School Days
by abesgoldenfriend
Summary: Running. That's what they both were doing, that's what their used to doing. When Spirit runs he's running from the horror that he was put through, but Franken runs from himself. They don't want to run anymore, and maybe, just maybe, with each other's help they can learn to stand. Follows Stein and Spirits' school days in the DWMA. Will be OCs. Cover by BroDare.
1. Running

**This is a story of Franken Stein when he was a child. This is the story of how he first meat Spirit Albarn. This is how the Mad Meister became a doctor, a teacher. I made up Stein's and Spirit's parents, and Franken's middle name. I don't own soul eater. **

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He was running. He was fleeing, like a dog returning home with its tail between its legs. Franken M. Stein wished he could go home, but he was lost. The kids at school were chasing him again, and he was running again. He was the smallest in his class, and while he was fast and stronger he couldn't stand against fourteen students that were two and a half feet taller than him.

But his mother would find him. Mary Stein was different than the other mothers, and she would find him. But he had to lose the thugs first. As the forest moved past him he spotted a large rock. He knew where he was, and his quick mind devised a plan. So he turned a sharp right. Some of the boys were surprised by this sharp turn and fell, but most followed the small grey haired boy into the trees.

Stein kept running until he saw it: a large fallen oak tree over a deep river. The log itself was ten feet away from the water, and it connected Stein's part of the forest with the rest. If he got over the log then they would never be able to find him. So as Franken's thin souled shoes first touched the bridge to freedom he saw something out of the corner of his eye, something that fell into the water with a small splash.

"Get him!" yelled several of the boys in German. Rocks whizzed past him as the boys took their best aims to knock "Freaky" Franken of the bridge to the bad part of the woods. Stein ran across the oak tree, when he felt a sharp pain on the back of his head. He touched the back of his head and he dropped to his knees. Why did he suddenly feel so light headed? Why was his body suddenly made out of lead?

He dropped. The boys ran, not quite sure if what they had been trying to was accomplished. Franken watched the log get farther away. The water came as a surprise. His head was still light and his limbs still lead. As he broke the surface he took a deep breath. He did his best to stay above, but it just seemed like too much. As he got dragged back under he felt someone grab the back of his homemade shirt and pull him out. His eyes were blurry, but he knew who it was instantly.

"Mother," he whispered in a hoarse voice. His mother's kind face was smiling as she swept his hair back with a hand.

"It's okay, Franken," she whispered back in her accented voice. Her gray curls were piled on top of her head in a tight bun. She smelled like homemade cake. "It's alright."

Franken found himself smiling as darkness ate the edges of his vision. _Mother will take care of everything. After all, Mother knows everything._

.

_I really need a haircut_, Spirit thought as he pulled a shoulder length strand out of his eyes. It might have seemed strange to see an underage kid with blood red hair and aqua eyes flying on an international flight, but Spirit wasn't a normal kid. He was the son of Howard Albarn, a senator from Nevada. After his parents were killed in a "robbery" he was thrown into the system. But now he was getting out of the country that had covered up his mom's murder, the one that cast him into house after house. One had locked him in the car; one had hung him upside down until the blood rushed to his head. Others simply were unoriginal and beat him with a belt. He had been in good houses, but those were few and far between.

So Spirit Howard Albarn ran away from the houses, the graves, the stares, and the county that let him down. He didn't know an ounce of German, but he could at least try. After he got off the plane he walked towards the sun. He would make his own life. He was no longer Spirit Howard Albarn, but just Spirit. He wasn't going to live in his father's shadow anymore. Never again.

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**So what did you think? Please review. And fave and stuff. Any comments? Questions? Let me give you information.**

**The first name of the writer of "Frankenstein" was Mary, so she was really the mother. I only realized that later. I just thought "Mary" just sounded good.**

**Howard Albarn was named after Tony Stark's father in "Iron Man". Tony was living in his father's shadow in the first movie, and he got out from under that shadow. Plus Howard was a weapons maker, and Howard Albarn literally "made" Spirit, who is a weapon.**

**I read somewhere that Stein was from Germany, but I don't remember where.**

"**Stein's Bridge" was based off of "Bridge to Tarabithia". Stein's forest, which is really called "Saint Mary's Wood", was cut off from the rest of the world by a deep, fast flowing river, kind of like a moat around castle. The only ways on is "Stein's Bridge" on the south west side, "Swallow Side" on the north, and "The Swing" on the east side. "Swallow Side" wasn't shallow, but was slow enough to swim across, while "The Swing" was a rope swing fastened in the middle, the main land was higher up against "Saint Mary's Wood", like a ledge.**


	2. Finding

**I don't own Soul Eater. Please don't use my OCs without permission.**

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Franken awoke to the smell of eggs. He was back in his bed. Back in his home. As he got out of bed he grabbed his slippers, also homemade, and pulled then on. His parents were sitting at the table of their humble home eating breakfast. As he sat down to his eggs his mother finished her eggs. His father chuckled as Mary kissed her son as she left.

Kurt Stein was a retired doctor. His own grey hair was shorter then Franken's and his blue eyes were larger and twinkling.

"Did you sleep well son?" Kurt asked as he picked up his own empty plate. Franken nodded, not willing to give up his eggs just so he could talk. Franken's father walked to the kitchen too.

Franken could feel his parents eyes on him, but he didn't do anything. Those boys were the ones that were chasing him. He didn't do anything, and those boys almost killed him. He finished his eggs and brought his plate to the kitchen. His parents were still watching him.

"Should I get started on my chores?" He asked, trying to bring his parents back to the present. Both blinked back into reality.

"Franken, you almost drowned yesterday. You should lie down," Kurt said crossing his arms.

"I feel fine."

Mary walked up behind Kurt and put a hand on his shoulder. "Your father is right. You need to go back to bed."

"But who's going to feed the chickens?"

"I will handle it," his father said. "Go back to bed."

Franken sighed. He wasn't going to be able to talk them out of this one. He walked out of the kitchen and back into his room. He sat on his bed. He didn't want to be here! Franken reached under his bed and pulled out his sketch book. The first few were a mix of his parents, his chickens, and different frogs and snakes. A few years ago he had noticed something if he stared at people long enough. He noticed floating balls in the middle of their chests. Curiosity always was his biggest problem. He learned that each and every floating ball was different. His teacher's beige one was unlike Wolfgang's mud brown one. As he curiosity grew the more he realized that there was something wrong with him.

Other people couldn't see the floating balls, not even the kids who still believe in Santa Clause or the Slender Man. Maybe he got it from his mom, who seemed to be able to do anything except see the floating balls. Or maybe he was insane, like the kids at school said. Or, like he had always suspected, he was alone in the world.

Whether he was mentally stable or not wasn't for him to decide, so he had always assumed that only he could do it. He was the only one who saw floating balls of light when he looked at living beings.

_Well, all except plants. _Plants were difficult. Human ones came in different colors and facial features that matched their personality, while animal ones were light color and vaguely shaped like the animal's head. His chicken Goldilocks used to have one that was very lightly tinted a yellow and had a beak, while Mrs. Wagner cat had a tinted red floating ball with cat ears. He believed that because animals acted on instinct their souls were white, and then tinted a color to match their personality.

Plants, on the other hand, didn't have a consciousness like humans or animals, they didn't have floating balls of light when he looked at them, but he did feel something. He didn't know what it was, and not knowing annoyed him, but so far he hadn't been able to figure out plants, in that sense.

But he did notice something else. It happened after Goldilocks died. He was feeding the chickens when he felt something that felt _somewhat_ like Goldilocks' floating color ball. It was similar to the plant thing, he could feel something, but couldn't see anything. So while he was feeding the chickens he would focuses on that feeling until his head hurt. Finally something happened: he could see the color ball.

Goldilocks' color ball was see through, but besides that it seemed alright. He continued to work and finally he could see Goldilocks herself. Transparent, unaware, but she was there, picking at the ground as though there was chicken seed there. He continued to work up. From chickens, to cat, to dogs, to wolves, and now he was going to try humans. But unlike the others he needed to get into the cemetery for that, and he wasn't allowed to go after trying to dig up a body.

He closed his sketch book and placed it into a (homemade) bag. Along with that went a candle, matches, drawing pencils, writing pencils (yes, there is a difference), and an extra pair of woolen socks. He had fallen into a freezing lake at one time and found that if he kept his feet at a conferrable temperature that he could at least walk home.

He threw the bag over his shoulder and went to his window. It looked like a long way down from up here, but then again he was really short so that could be an adding factor.

Stein opened his window and carefully lowered himself out of it. He had done this before, and since it seemed like he was going to live his life as a midget he never had to recalculate the fastest and easiest way down.

The last part was the most changing for him. He had to jump down from at least six feet of the ground. For most kids his age it wouldn't be a problem, but for him, well, that was a different story. Jumping from this height he might potentially break his leg. The last time he did it he had twisted his ankle, and couldn't walk on it for a week.

He jumped. He wasn't worried about falling his back. He always landed on his feet, but this time he didn't land at all. He looked down to see that he was suspended in the air about three feet from the ground. And from the pressure that he was feeling under his armpits he was sure that he was being held. Sure enough when he looked he saw his father's disapproving gaze from above him. Kurt slowly lowered his son to the ground.

"What, if I may ask, were you doing?"

Franken opened his mouth to talk, but stopped when he felt something. People who he knew floating color balls were easier for him to read and feel, but this time it wasn't a person that he knew, or even seen before. He had no previous knowledge of this color ball. Or the ones that followed this man. Unheard of in this town.

Kurt noticed the change in his son instantly. He turned to face the threat, pulling his son behind him, even though whoever it was wouldn't be here for another ten minutes if Franken was just sensing them.

"Go get your mother," he told his son. Before he could Mary appeared out of nowhere. She also stood in fount of Franken, next to her husband.

"What is it?" she asked.

"I don't know."

Mary kneeled down and grabbed her son's shoulders. "Franken, please to inside."

"But-"

"Do as your mother says," Kurt barked. Franken frowned, but did as his parents told him to do. As he got into his room he could see the man he had first sensed. He had dark skin, dark brown dreadlocks, and had a necklace of bones around his neck. He was tall and lean and walked with a good humor about him. Behind him was a woman in her mid-twenties, with long brown hair and green eyes. She wore cowboy boot and a western hat. Following them was a group of men and a group of women, and for some odd reason all six of them walked in groups of twos.

The African man walked directly up to his parents, with the cowgirl not far behind. The other four stayed behind.

"Hello, are you Kurt and Mary Stein?" he asked threw a thick accent. He was still smiling.

Kurt answered the man while Mary looked up at her son. She pulled on the end of her nose. To many people that would look strange, but Franken knew otherwise. He and his mother had come up with a secret language that contained body movements. Mary pulling on her nose meant the she wanted him to run. Run into the woods and wait for them. She thought that whoever these people are that they were going to cause harm to him.

He grabbed his bag. He also grabbed a spare change of clothes, nightwear, two pairs of wool socks, a wool sweater, and a small blanket.

He swung the thoroughly stuffed bag into his back, and raced out the back door, only stopping to grab a loaf of bread and a small block of cheese. Who knew how long he would be out there?

As he raced into the wood he didn't notice the group of men start to follow him, nor did he notice that the girl group had disappeared altogether. He was too busy think of a good place to hide. They wouldn't find him, and even if they did he would make them pay.

. -*-

He was running. Where in the world was he? He had no idea, but there were two chicks after him, and something told him that he couldn't let them catch him.

He hid behind a rock, waiting for them. And they didn't disappoint. The ladies were always chasing him.

"He's close by," said the woman dressed in a baseball jersey and a baseball cap. Definitely American. "I can sense him."

_Sense? Shit, _he thought. _A meister. And Father always said never trust those freaks. But I'm a weapon, shouldn't I trust them?_

"Hey Carrie, do you think I should change?" asked the woman that was somehow able to run through the woods in high heels.

The baseball star nodded and heels changed into an oversized baseball bat that looked like it was made of rosewood.

_Okay, let me get this straight. The heels lady is a Demon Bat, her meister looks like she eats, breathes, and sleeps baseball, and her name is Carrie. And the bat is probably only a head shorter than me, and more than half my weigh. And the bat's pink. Yep, I'm running._

And with that thought he took off, with the ladies not far behind. Spirit crashed through the trees, not really caring that he was probably ruining the landscape. He only stopped when he saw another meister holding what looked like a huge stick. The men pointed towards him, only they should have been looking up, seeing as something grey and only slightly taller than his waist jumped on them from above.

. -*-

Franken watched the two men from the tree tops. Somehow they were tracking him. One had said that he was close, and the other changed into a huge staff. _This is a very strange day, _he thought with a satisfied smile. He felt his electricity (another thing that he could do, but the others couldn't) move up and down his arm. With a wicked smile he dropped from the trees into the men.

He grabbed the end of the staff, using his own personal electricity to shock both of the men. They dropped like bugs. He heard females shout in surprise. He tried to stand up to see who he was facing next, but something ran him over. He spotted a flash of red, and the ground collapsed beneath him.

. -*-

The first thing he saw when he opened his eyes was the ground, which was strange because Franken was looking up.

_I must be underground,_ he thought getting up. Then he remembered the flash of red. He brought to his attention various parts of his body, making sure that he wasn't injured. That's when he noticed the boy.

He was taller than him, with blood red hair. He lay on the ground, either sleeping or unconscious. Stein's bag lay next to him.

Franken ran to his bag, sliding on his knees part of the way. Looking through the bag he quickly took an inventory.

Everything was there. Franken hid his surprise, even though the boy was asleep. Nothing was gone. Not even the food, though it had been nibbled on, but the boy didn't do it greedily. He was careful to make sure that he didn't eat too much.

The boy stirred and opened his aqua eyes. He looked at Franken with an odd expression, like gazelle looking at a lion. He was waiting for an opportunity to run.

Franken didn't do anything. He simply plopped down on the ground and took a bit of bread for himself. The boy watched him uneasily as he moved into an aggressive crouch. Franken ignored the boy's movement and continued to chew on his bread. The redhead finally seemed to realize that Franken wasn't going to hurt him, so he calmed down. Instead of the aggressive crouch he settled into sitting on his bum, with his knees in the air. He simply watched Franken as he ate.

Franken looked at the redhead. "Who are you?" His tone was cold and uncaring, but the boy didn't seem to mind.

"I'm Spirit Al-" the boy stopped abruptly and looked down. "Spirit. Just Spirit."

Franken hit his hands together knocking spare bread crumbs into the dirt floor. "How did we get down here?"

The redhead -Spirit- looked up at the grey haired boy. "I was running to get away from these two chicks, when I tripped over you, the ground collapsed, and we fell down here. For some reason they didn't follow. I dragged you way from the hole, helped myself to some bread, and fell asleep."

Franken thought about what Spirit had just said. He grabbed the bag and put it back onto his back. He closed his eyes for a brief moment, finding the two females that Spirit was talking about. They were still above the ground, and one of them was scared beyond belief. They wouldn't be coming down here anytime soon. He opened his eyes before Spirit noticed. Him knowing that he was a freak was the last thing that he needed right now.

"We need to head this way," Franken said starting towards the other end of the tunnel.

"Wait, you want to head further underground?" Spirit asked with disbelief.

Franken nodded. "But if these people have followed me this far then they're good. You'll have to be fast."

Spirit stood and gave Franken thumbs up. "Don't worry. Fast is my middle name."

Franken tilted his head slightly to the left and looked at Spirit, obviously contemplating something. Then with a small noise that was almost approval he started off again. Spirit ran after him.

"Is something wrong?"

Franken shook his head. "I guess that my parents aren't the only people with a strange sense of humor about naming their kids."

"I was joking."

Franken stopped and did his contemplating look again, and with a small noise of understanding he set off again. "I'm not good with jokes."

. -*-

**Okay, let me talk about this chapter. **

**The underground tunnels- Where Franken lives there are a lot of underground tunnels, but they have a habit of caving in, so most of the time he tries to stay out of them.**

**Spirit not saying his last name- I'm the only one that noticed that (to my knowledge) that Spirit is never introduced as "Spirit Albarn"? It's always "Spirit" or "Death Scythe". My theory is that he dropped his last name when he entered the academy. That might be explain in this story, or in my other story "BeWitching". Also his middle name (in my mind) is Howard, not "fast". He was only joking.**

**The African man and the cowgirl. The African man is Lord Death's currant Death Scythe, and the Cowgirl is a gun meister. I'm not going to tell you their names (even though I'm tempted too, I'm just going to tell you that the cowgirl plays a big part of the story, so pay attention to her.)**

**The two women- Since you already know the meister's name I'm just going to tell you both of them. Carrie Ruth and Genevive Prescott. Carrie is named after both Carrie Underwood (because in her song "Before he cheats" she hits the guy's car "with a lowy bell slugger" and I'm assuming that that's a baseball bat, and after Babe Ruth. And I just liked the name Genevive Prescott.**

**The two men- one of them has an inpact in the story, and the other is Genevive's brother you'll learn about them later.**

**Bye!**

** Abesgoldenfriend**


	3. Fighting

**Chapter three! Woot! Okay, if there is something you don't like or something you want in the story please tell me, and I'll try to do it. I don't own Soul Eater, but the OCs are mine, so please don't use.**

**. -*-**

Spirit watched the grey haired boy lead him down the tunnel. Could he really trust this guy? After all the meister and weapons were after him too, so there must be something freaky about him. You know, beside the fact that he had grey hair and skin.

"Here's the end of the tunnel," the grey haired kid said. Spirit looked up to see that it was indeed the end of the tunnel.

"Do you think they're out there?" Spirit asked while squinting at the dirt, as though he could see through it. The boy looked up for one full second, before dropping his gaze.

"They're close, but not near the hole right now. I think that we can risk it, unless you're unwilling," he finished with a raised eyebrow.

Spirit puffed up his chest. "Of courses I'm willing. I've been running from them for almost two years now. I'm not going to give up now." He walked to the whole. "I think that I'm going to have to go up first, and then pull you up. No offence, but you're a bit short." He turned and saw Franken's contemplating look again. "What's up?"

Franken's mouth twitched as he heard this new information, his mind already racing. "You know these people? Then you could tell me how-" He was cut off by a crash and a loud cuss word. "He swore," he said childishly.

Spirit looked up to where the voice had originated. "How about we get to a safe place, then we play 'Twenty Questions', okay?"

Franken nodded eagerly and walked to the hole. Spirit climbed up and out. When he was safely above ground again he lead down into the hole again and reached for Franken's hand.

"I can't reach," Franken said unemotionally. He could have been talking about the weather.

"No dip," Spirit said in a growling hushed voice. He looked to where the voice had come from. "Jump."

Franken nodded and jumped for Spirit's hand. The first time they held for a second, but he slipped. The second time had similar results. The third time he didn't reach at all. The snapping of approaching people set tremors through his arms. "Come on, one last time," he called down. The grey haired boy nodded and jumped.

Spirit grabbed onto his wrist, and didn't let go. With a triumphing shout from Spirit Franken was out of the hole. Spirit smiled down at the hole. "That was way too much trouble from just getting you out of a hole." Franken nodded in agreement.

"They're coming," Franken said in his controlled voice again. Spirit grabbed his wrist and started to run, with Franken behind him.

"By the way, I never asked your name," Spirit yelled.

"I thought we weren't asking questions," he said in a slight mocking tone.

Spirit gave him a look. "Well, were out of the hole now, so I think that it's okay. What's your name?"

"Franken Stein."

Spirit looked at the boy with a confused look. "Frankenstein? As in the monster?"

Franken sighed irritably. It was obvious that he had heard that before. "Franken Stein. With a space. Also Frankenstein was the scientist, not the monster."

Spirit smiled at Franken. "You were right about the parents thing." Franken scowled at him.

They continued to run, and when they slowed down they were gasping for air. "Just where are we going?" Spirit asked between breathes.

Franken stopped gasping before answering. He looked Spirit straight in the eyes. "The cemetery."

. -*-

Franken watched Spirit look uneasily at the cemetery. Could he trust him? After all he knew what they were. Did he have something to do with it?

Franken looked at the cemetery himself. He could feel the pulling on his mind of the invisible floating color balls. Would it be wrong to practice while he was here?

Spirit walked uneasily into the grave yard. He hadn't been in a bone yard since his parents were buried. He had tried to stay as far from dead people as possible, but if there really was a hiding place in this place what choice did he have?

Franken slipped through the bars of the gate while Spirit climbed over it. He followed the younger to the mausoleum. It was stereotypical. Grey, made of stone, spooky. Oh yeah, and don't forget the huge padlock on it.

Franken studied the lock. "It seems that they had added new security since I had last been here."

Spirit snorted. "If that's new I don't even want to see the old one." He looked behind him, just in case. "Can you get in?"

Franken studied the gate. "I don't think so. The bars are too close together for me to fit through, and the spikes on the top prevent you from climbing over. We'll have to find a new hiding spot."

Spirit bit his lip and looked at the lock. He could get it open. But the little boy would notice, and he would ask questions, and Spirit never did like answering questions. But something told him that if he and Franken left this place then something bad would happen. But the last thing he needed was Franken to think he was a freak, even if he was one.

As Spirit stood there in the middle of his head debate Franken was watching him with one raised eyebrow. It was obvious that he knew how to get in, but he was debating whether or not to do it in front of Franken.

"I'm good at keeping secrets, if that's what's wrong," Franken told Spirit. The redhead finally snapped back into reality and looked sheepishly at the younger boy.

"Okay, how about this? I'll get us in if you promise not to freak out." Spirit's voice was a bit prideful, but he face was almost twitching from nervousness. He was good at faking words, but not facial expressions. _What does he have to hide?_ Franken thought as he nodded.

Spirit bit his lip again and stepped in front of the gate. There was a glow of orange, a flash of black, and the chain was lying at Spirit's feet. Spirit turned and looked at Franken, as though he expected him to suddenly start stoning him.

Franken's mind had already processed the fact that Spirit's right arm had turned into a large black blade from the elbow down. What he really was thinking about was how Spirit was connected to the people chasing him, and what they wanted with him. And it seemed like the blade boy was the only one at the moment that would give him answers. Franken looked up into Spirit's eyes and spoke without shame, "What are you?"

Spirit swallowed and nodded towards the mausoleum. "How about we go inside first?"

. -*-

Franken sat across from Spirit, who would sit down for a few seconds, then stand up and walk around, then sit down again. It was like that for a few minutes. Finally he sat down and stayed down. His nervous walked turned to a constant tapping on his knee. Franken sat there, waiting until he realized that Spirit was too caught up in this thoughts to answer.

"You never did answer my question," Franken said. Spirit looked down for a few moments, and then looked back at the grey haired boy.

"I'm a weapon," Spirit talked like he was making a confession. He also talked like that one word was supposed to mean something to Franken, which it didn't, so he continued to stare at the redhead.

Spirit saw his confusion. "You don't know what a weapon is, do you?" he asked. Spirit sighed when Franken shook his head. "A weapon is a human that can change into a weapon. Every weapon is different, well there can be the same weapon, but they all look different, and they had different soul wavelengths and I'm blabbering. Sorry. Anyway the weapons have meister that wield them. Meisters are humans with unique souls. Also meisters have the ability to see souls- are you okay?"

Franken had leapt up when he heard the soul seeing part. Souls, is that what the floating color balls were? He thought for a moment. It made sense. He was a meister. He could see souls. But way were they chasing him? Did he do something wrong? Franken bit his lip. _Is it because I can see the dead souls?_

"Hey, you okay?" Franken was chewing on his lip and didn't notice Spirit's inquiry at first, but when they words registered he looked at the weapon.

"Oh, yes. Please continue your story."

Spirit looked uncertainly at Franken, but continued none the less. "Okay, where was I? Oh yeah, meisters. Any way the meisters use the weapons to kill kishins. Kishins are evil humans, and the weapons eat kishin egg souls to both stop them from becoming full blown kishin, and the souls help strengthen the weapon. After eating nighty-nine kishin souls and one witch's soul the weapon becomes a Death Scythe, and the personal weapon of Lord Death."

"And how does one become a kishin egg?"

Spirit's uncertain look became a frown. "By eating human souls. Why?"

Franken waved his comment away. "No reason." He looked at Spirit with his confused face again. "How do you know all this?"

Spirit shifted uncomfortably. "My father always said know your enemy."

"Are you trying to become a kishin?"

"No!" Spirit snapped.

Franken tilted his head left again. "Then why-"

"I don't wanna talk about it," Spirit muttered while looking murderously at a wall.

Franken's contemplating/questioning/confused look deepened, but he didn't say anything. He only straightened his head and closed his eyes. To Spirit it looked like he was almost meditating. Deciding to leave him alone he walked over to the door and looked through a crack. _Why was this place so damn creepy?_ He thought.

The next few hours were some of the most nerve wracking that Spirit had ever experienced. Franken sat doing his meditating thing while he either watched out the crack in the door, or pacing the floor. He only stopped when Franken made a sound that only little kids and pigs can make.

"Hey, you okay?" Spirit asked while kneeling next to him.

Franken rubbed his temples. "I think that I did something stupid."

Spirit frowned. "What did you do?"

Franken finally looked Spirit in the eyes. His eyes were the palest green that Spirit had ever seen while still being _green._ Said green eyes were wide, but not with fear. With something else. Something that Spirit couldn't place. And with his pale jade eyes wide he said: "Do you believe in ghosts?"

Spirit didn't know what to say. If he said no then not only would he be mean to Franken, but he would be lying too. But if he said yes and the boy was only joshing with him it would make he look like a fool.

Spirit never got the chance to say anything, for the exact moment that he opened his mouth something hit the door, hard, making it buck in. While Spirit made a yelp and jumped away from the doors Franken calmly stood up and walked to where Spirit had landed.

"Is it them?"

"No." Franken's voice was simple and unemotional.

"Who then?"

"Not who," Franken said. "What."

"'What'?" Spirit said his voice almost shrill. "What do you mean 'What'?"

If Franken was going to talk back he never got the chance for that moment the door flew off the hinges. The door flew towards the boys, but both dodged it. Spirit by dropping to the floor, and Franken by stepping to the right.

Beyond where the door was something that could have been human at one point, but wasn't anymore. His eyes were sunken in. Most of his face was taken up by his jaw, which had rows and rows of sharp teeth, rather shark like. His skin was so pale and stretched so tight around him that he almost looked like a skeleton. He looked like he was carrying a large machete.

"Der Groβmann!" Franken yelled in surprise. Spirit didn't bother yelling at all. He simply grabbed Franken and threw him against the back wall, with Spirit close behind. Besides, if this thing didn't kill them then he could ask Franken what the heck he said.

The thing looked from the redhead to the small greyed hair boy, as though trying to figure who was the weakest. His eyes settled on Franken.

Spirit jumped in front of the younger boy, his arm already from the elbow down a black blade. The thing attacked quickly. Spirit brought his blade to counter the machete, but he didn't see the left hand coming around to hit him in the side. Spirit flew into the wall, and landed with a painful groan.

The thing turned to Franken, only to receive an excruciating jolt to his abdomen and see a grey blur out of the corner of his eye.

Franken grabbed Spirit's hand and haled both of them to the door. Suddenly Spirit spun and brought his blade up to counter the things machete again. Franken felt something. It was hard to explain, but he felt like suddenly everything was alright. As long as he stayed close to Spirit everything would be alright.

Franken frowned while trying the reasoning behind these feelings when he felt his soul. It was as though his soul and Spirits were in sink. He felt waves of his soul moving into Spirit, and something in Spirit seemed to be making them stronger. Franken stood there thinking about this when a streak of sliver invaded his vision. Spirit's blade immediately came up and blocked the large knife, while Franken flared up his custom electricity. The both pushed back on the thing at the same time, sending the man-beast flying back.

Spirit let out another shout of triumph. Franken couldn't keep himself from roiling his eyes, when he saw some more orange glowing. Except instead of only covering his arm it was covering his whole body. Franken looked at his hand among the orange. Should he pull his hand back? He decided against it. It didn't seem to be harming him, plus Spirit was holding it tightly, and didn't seem to be letting it go.

Everything seemed to stand still as the glow started to change shape. Even the thing was watching. Then the glow stopped and Spirit wasn't there anymore. Instead there was a sleek black scythe.

Franken held up the scythe. It was more than twice the size of him, but that didn't seem to hinder him as he swung it though the air. As he looked closer to the blade he noticed a wave of light travel across the blade, and that Spirit's face appeared on the blade. He looked a little bit freaked out, to say the least.

_"Okay, where the hell am I? And where are my clothes?! _He added almost shrilly.

"You changed into a scythe. You seem either to be in, perhaps, your soul. Or maybe you're simply in the blade." Franken opened his mouth to say more, but he was cut off by Spirit's pointing. Franken turned quickly and brought Spirit up to block the oncoming blade. The thing bounced back slightly after it attacked, then quickly brought his weapon down again, only to have Franken block him.

This continued for a while while Franken searched for an opportunity. He saw it when the thing brought down the machete for what seemed the hundredth time. He used Spirit to through the thing back, shock him with his electricity, the slicing him through with Spirit's blade.

For a second the world was still. The thing stood still in shock. Franken watched the black blade move through the thing, wondering what was going to happen next. Spirit was still trying to figure out where the hell he was, and why the hell he was naked.

The thing's skin seemed to unravel, and there was a small flash of light. Where the man-beast was was a glowing red ball. _A soul_, Franken thought. But he had never seen a soul like this. As he stepped closer to the soul he felt the constant tattoo of madness banging against his sanity go faster. It didn't strengthen, but was faster.

As Franken picked up the soul Spirit stopped his self-induced freak out and looked at the soul in the smaller boy's hands. "That's a kishin egg soul," he said forgetting all about his glorious nakedness.

"Oh. That means you eat it, right?" Franken asked while holding it out to Spirit.

Spirit raised an eyebrow. "I don't think I can. Not like this."

"Then change back."

Spirit shrugged. "I don't know how. This was my first full transformation."

Franken looked at the soul for a moment then stuck it into the blade of the scythe, so that it was cut about half way down the center.

Spirit looked up at the soul. "That doesn't seem to be working."

Franken gave a small shrug and grabbed the soul off of the blade, took off his backpack, and stuffed the soul inside. He slung the backpack back onto his back, set Spirit across his shoulders so that the blade was pointing up. He started to walk out of the cemetery, ignoring Spirit's questions of where they were going.

. -*-

Kurt exchanged a wide eyed glance with his wife. Their son a _meister_? It was wonderful.

Wonderful, but impossible. He knew that Franken could see souls, but he had always thought it was just something that he had inherited from his mother.

Mary and Kurt looked back at the dark man before them. He was still smiling. Beside him the cowgirl was smiling reassuringly, as though this had come as a great shock to them.

But it had, hadn't it? Franken was a _meister! _

"And you are?" Mary asked with a raised eyebrow. She was so very protective of Franken.

"Oh, how very rude of me. My name is Malcolm Mansa, Death Scythe to Lord Death. This is Victoria Cornwell, a gun meister."

"And the others?" Mary asked.

And at the same timed as Mary Kurt said: "Lord Death sent his Death Scythe to talk to us about our son?"

"The others are here because of a Demon Scythe that we want to join the DWMA. He has managed to evade us for many years. That's also why I'm here. Lord Death thought that the boy could relate to me, because we're both scythes, and that I could convince him to attend the DWMA."

"We thought that because we were already coming to Germany we could kill two birds with one bullet," Victoria added. "And when we found out that the Demon Scythe was coming this way, well, the timing was perfect."

"And when exactly do you want Franken to join the DWMA? Kurt asked. "From what I understand most children start when they're twelve."

"Oh, we want him to start this year," Malcolm said this as though it was the most natural thing in the world.

Both parents started. "This year?" Mary gasped. "He's only ten!"

"He also one of the most gifted meister that we've ever seen. We would like it if he is able to join this year," Victoria argued.

Kurt opened his mouth to say something, but was cut off by Mary grabbing his arm. She had this faraway look in her eye that made the hair stand up on the back of Victoria's neck.

"Mary?" Kurt asked. Mary continued to stare off.

"He's in trouble," she said in a horse whisper. Both started out the door, only pausing to grab a crossbow and an axe.

. -*-

_"Why on Earth did I come to Germany? I can't speak German."_

Spirit had been ranting for the last half an hour. Franken was thinking about examining the inside of the soul that they had caught when Spirit's voice broke through his thoughts.

_"I should have gone to France. I can speak French. Plus they have girls there."_

"You can speak French?"

Spirit blinked as he was brought out of his rate. _"Yeah, I can speak French. Father thought that it was important that I at least speak a few languages. He mostly made sure I could read a lot of different languages though._

"How many?"

Spirit thought for a moment. _"I can speak English, French, Chinese, and Vulcan."_

"Vulcan?"

Spirit waved the question away with his hand. _"My language tutor was a big _Star Trek _fan. Anyway, I can read in English, French, Chinese, Japanese, Irish, German, Latin, Babylonian, Hebrew, Egyptian, Greek," _Spirit trailed off as he saw the looked Franken was giving him.

Franken had turned the blade of the scythe he was caring to look at Spirit's face. Spirit, on the other hand, was doing his best not to look Franken in the eyes. "Why do you know so many languages?"

_"I don't want to talk about it," _Spirit murmured. Franken stared at the weapon, when he remembered something. Something that he noticed one of the few times that his parents forced him to go to church, before the leader of the church accused him of being possessed.

Franken started to walk, and Spirit was lost in memory so he didn't notice when they walked into a small town. He did, however, notice when Franken opened a large pair of doors.

. -*-

**Cliffhanger! I'm so bad. Anyway…**

**Stein's father is named after Kurt Wagner, who is my favorite in X-men: Evolution, and is German.**

**Malcolm is Lord Death's current Death Scythe, if you haven't figured it out, and they need Spirit to join the DWMA because there's only one demon scythe born every generation (in my mind) so their won't be another one for at least another 20 to 30 years (which would have been Soul).**

**Mary cannot see souls, but she can do a whole bunch of other stuff. Reason might be given in this story, or in my other one **_**BeWitching**_**, which is the sequel to this one.**

**Where Franken lives is not a big town, and it looks like it's from the 19****th**** century. Why? Because this is my story, and I said so. (I think that I'd be cool for reasons that will be given in this story later on.**

**Spirit only speaks four languages, but he can read a whole bunch of them. Why? Because Spirit's dad was racist, and only made sure that he was taught to speak languages that Howard approved, or in the Chinese case he thought that one day they would rule the world. Howard also let Spirit's language tutor teach him to read also of languages, just in case. **_**Star Trek**_** was a space TV show (in case you didn't know) and one of the alien races was the Vulcans. So the tutor taught Spirit to speak Vulcan, but not read it (why? I don't know. The tutor was just one of those people…). I don't know if it's possible to be able to read a language, and not know how to speak it, but in my story you can.**

**Stein's Parents: I've read a least one story and a few summaries talking about Stein's parents, and that they were bad parents, and such. I didn't want that. Mary and Kurt Stein are very good people, and are based off of Worf's parents from **_**Star Trek: The Next Generation,**_** and my parents. They loved and have defended Stein since his birth, and would not hesitate to kill or be killed for him.**

**Okay, this is Abesgoldenfriend signing out!**

**P.S. Sparkleyfriend1999 says Yo! Whaz up? And please read my soul eater story **_**A song from Soul.**_

** I wish I could sign out!**

** Abesgoldenfriend - I signed out! (^^**


	4. Learning

**I don't own Soul Eater, but the OCs are mine. I think, I mean do you own OCs if they're for someone else's thing? I don't know, but what I do know it that I don't own Soul Eater, and that I like milk. And blue. I need blue milk. Or milky blue. Okay! On with the story!**

. -*-

Victoria was surprised that two grey haired humans could out run a meister and a weapon, but out run them they did. They all followed Mary to wherever she was heading, when suddenly she stopped. Standing in front of Mary were the four people Victoria absolutely did not want to see.

The thicker of the men stepped forward and ran one of his hands through his dark short hair. "We lost the boy."

Victoria raised an eyebrow. "I can see that. What about you two?" she asked the group of girls.

One of the girls played with her long copper locks, while the one in the baseball cap answered. "We lost the demon scythe too."

Malcolm let out a small chuckle while Victoria groaned. "What happened?"

The four exchanged a glance and started to explain what happened. After they had finished both Malcolm and Kurt were doubled over laughing, while Victoria had put her hand over her eyes in disbelief.

"Mary!"

All of the adults looked over into the trees where a young girl of about seven had just come out. The girl looked over the adults with mild curiosity before settling on Mary.

"Elva?" Mary asked as she walked closer to the girl.

Elva started to speak in German, and point to where she had just came from. Mary spoke back, in what Victoria assumed to be in a thanking. Elva nodded at Mary, looked one last time at the others, and ran back the way she came.

Mary straightened up and turned to the people who couldn't speak German. "She said that Franken is at the church, and that he's carrying a large black scythe."

"That's the demon scythe," the woman with the long copper hair gasped.

Kurt started to walk to where the girl had come from. "We had better hurry." Mary followed him with a nod.

"What kind of trouble could they get into at a church?" asked the lean man with the same copper hair as the woman in the high heels.

Kurt turned back to the meisters and weapons. "There are things under the church that do not need to be meddled with, and if I know children, it's that they like to meddle with things. Especially dangerous things"

. -*-

"Can you read it?"

Franken had turned the blade of Spirit towards the wall, where a few words in Latin were carved into it. The words were originally hidden behind a bookcase, which Franken had carelessly toppled over into the floor. Franken was standing on top of the back of the bookcase on top a mountain of books, which almost brought him to eye-level with the writing.

Spirit stared very hard at the carving, as though willpower would suddenly make it English. _"The first sentence it easy enough. It's Latin, and it basically says: 'Don't open unless you want something bad to happen'. The second line is a mix of a few different languages, and that's going to take a while."_

Franken nodded and shoved Spirit's shaft into the flimsy backing of the bookcase, so that he was held up. When Spirit was secure Franken grabbed a random book and started to read. It wasn't even five minutes before Spirit got Franken's attention again.

_ "Hey, how do you say 'open' in German?"_

Franken mumbled something that Spirit couldn't even try to make out, let alone translate. But whatever Franken had said seemed to work, as the wall split down the middle and opened. Spirit, Franken, the bookcase and some of the books slid into an opening as a gush of air came out. Franken stood up from where he had slid to and grabbed Spirit.

He walked a few steps into the tunnel. It seemed to be made of the same stone as the church, and it suddenly turned right a few meters into it. From there, Franken assumed, it would head down.

Franken smelled the air, and then wrinkled his nose at the mildew and dust that he smelled. "Bad air," he said dryly to Spirit.

Spirit only shrugged. _"I can't smell anything. Must be because I'm in the weapon, or whatever."_

Franken didn't respond to Spirit. He stepped forward into the tunnel.

. -*-

Mary was running as fast as she could. She had to get to the boys.

"What's so dangerous about the church?" she heard someone behind them ask. She didn't pause.

"Not the church. It is under the church. Something dark, something that should have been destroyed long ago," Kurt explained without slowing down.

"Why didn't someone kill it?" Someone both asked and exclaimed. Not important who. Had to get to the boys.

"We could not figure out how," Mary muttered darkly. None of the visitors heard her, but Kurt did. He briefly raised a finger to his lips. He then told the others that '_they_ could not figure out how'. For a moment Mary cursed her choice of words. She had lived long enough that she knew that she couldn't even _hint_ at how old she was. Her or her husband.

_Not important,_ she thought. _Have to get to the boys. Have to save Franken and Spirit._

. -*-

As Franken walked down the tunnel,torches burst into flames. He had stopped when it first happened, examining it. That was also the moment that the wall shut behind them. Franken didn't run to the wall in a sudden lust for freedom, and when the door closed Spirit let out a rough sigh.

_"I guess we're going forward_," Spirit commented dryly. Franken turned to look at the weapon. Spirit was turned so he could look at the door, and for the first time Franken could see his chest.

He was covered in scars. They crossed him making thousands of Xs and crosses. Along with the scars were burns, bites, and bruises. Franken's eyes followed the scars, thinking about each and every way he could have gotten all of them.

He almost didn't notice his rips. They bulged out of his tight skin. His arms looked like little more than a skeleton, and his stomach was severely concave, as though someone had tried to starve him. Franken looked more closely at Spirit's face. His cheekbones jutted sharply out of his skin, and he had bags under his eyes. His whole body spoke of malnourishment and lack of sleep. What happened to him?

_"Hey, you okay?" _Franken brought his eyes back up to Spirit's. His face was nearly as red as his hair.

"I'm fine," Franken answered, and they started to walk again.

Spirit swallowed, and tried to get his blushing under control. God, he hated people seeing his skin. They always gave this look of pity, and they never ask how he got them. They just assume. Who were they to pity him? Anger chased self-hatred around in his stomach, until he found himself rather nauseous. God, he hated this.

Franken walked forward, not noticing Spirit spacing out.

He continued to walk deeper and deeper underground, when he smelled something. A very familiar smell.

"Blood," he said, with some eagerness masked under the usual frankness.

_"Blood?"_ Spirit repeated, with a lift at the end of the sentence making it a question. _"Where?"_

Franken sniffed the air again. "Close." And he started to walk again.

_ "We're going closer to where all the blood is," _Spirit said disapprovingly. Even though Franken could only see his face something in his voice suggested that his arms were crossed. Whenever Mother made that voice her arms were crossed.

"Do you have a better idea?" Franken asked with a raised eyebrow.

Spirit's eyes tilted up as he thought. _"Okay, not really." _And with a wave of one scarred arm he gestured for Franken to continue, which he did.

Franken walked until he met something that he didn't want to see: a dead end wall. He looked up at Spirit's face, which was pale under his blood red hair, and made him look even more dead. He seemed to be having a mental freak out of sorts inside his head. Something that most likely had to do with cannibalism.

Franken searched the wall when he spotted another sentence in a language that he couldn't read. He brought Spirit so he could see the words. "Can you read it?"

_"Huh? What?" _Spirit blinked a few times as he was brought out of his panic driven stupor.

Franken repeated his question and Spirit finally brought his attention to the words at eyelevel. Spirit looked over the words, and his brow knitted together.

"What does it say?" Franken asked as he noticed Spirit's face get paler.

_"Beware the Rake."_

They both waited as thought something was going to happen, but nothing did. The color in Spirit's face started to come back and Franken frowned.

"A rake? What does this have to do with a garden implement?" Franken muttered angrily that he couldn't see the answer. He touched the wall as far up as he could, not coming even close to the words.

_"What are you doing!?" _

Franken started and looked up at the scythe. "What do you mean?"

_"The words are changing!"_

Franken looked at the writing again. It looked like it had changed, but he still couldn't read it. "What does it say now?"

He didn't say anything.

Franken frowned and looked up at the scythe. "What?"

Spirit's eyes were wide, and his face pale. He looked even more like a skeleton than moments ago. He started to shake.

"Spirit?"

Spirit turned sharply to look at Franken. _"We should leave."_

"The wall closed behind us, remember?"

_"Whatever, just get us away from that wall!"_

Franken stepped closer to the wall, wish that he could read whatever the language was. As he stared at the words they started to glow. He watched all the letters light up and the wall break down the middle.

It opened slowly, and the smell of blood almost became overwhelming. Franken stepped through the wall.

It was beautiful. Blood covered the walls and floor. Bodies of hundreds of children covered the floor also, some so pristine that you could think that they were sleeping, others were cut open, showing each and every inside of the children before him.

Franken felt his sanity crack, and small drips of madness flowing through the cracks. He bit his lip to stop from smiling, but that didn't help. He put both hands on Spirit, holding himself up. His thin body shook with effort. _Don't start laughing, don't start laughing, don't!_

That didn't help either.

. -*-

Kurt flung open the doors, almost breaking them off their hinges. If he had been in his right mind then he would have worried about exposing his strength to the others, but at the moment he could care less.

He ran across the small church when he saw the bookcase.

"I'm going to strangle him," he growled half-heartedly.

"No you're not," Mary countered, simply so she could let her husband feed off of her own frustration.

"Yes I am. Right after I hug him to death," Kurt said seriously. He knew what Mary was doing, but he let her continue. If she didn't have some way to let her anger or frustration out she'd blow up.

As the others joined them Kurt barked the password and he, Mary, and the DWMA people set off down the tunnel.

. -*-

Spirit watched the younger boy laugh himself silly. His smile looked at least a half inch too big for his face. His hands were holding onto Spirit's shaft so hard his knuckles were pale white. If it wasn't for the scythe holding him up he would be lying flat on the ground.

Spirit watched Franken laugh; half wishing that he had hands so he could hit him. He turned back to the bodies. _"How did they get here?" _he thought out loud.

If Franken heard him he didn't say anything. He just continued to laugh like an idiot. Spirit frowned at the smaller boy, when he saw something out of the corner of his eye. Spirit's blood rate shot up like bottle rocket when he saw something lunge at them. _"Watch out!"_

Franken turned in time to see the thing, but not enough to really get a look at it or to move out of the way. Franken flew backwards and landed in a mess of bodies and blood. Franken stood and looked at the thing that had attacked him.

It looked somewhat like the thing he had killed earlier, the same skeleton like figure and such. Only this one didn't have eyes, only dark circles. Its face was skull like, and the only way that you knew that it wasn't a skull was the fact that it was a peach color. It also wasn't wearing any clothes, but it lacked any private parts. Its arms were long, and the fingers looked a half a foot long each and were razor sharp. But the biggest difference wasn't its eyes or its fingers. It was its soul.

It didn't have one.

Franken looked so hard that an ache bloomed behind his forehead. He could feel the souls of the dead around him, but not of the thing before him.

It moved so fast it blurred. Franken brought Spirit up in an attempt to block the thing. He was able, but it slid him back a few feet. Franken used his electricity to hit the thing, knocking it back a few feet. The thing growled and aimed for Franken's legs. The small boy countered by sliding the handle of the down and using Spirit's blade cut the thing through the shoulder and part way down its chest.

The thing growled as blood started to pour out of the wound. It raised its rake-like hand and used it to launch Franken into the air.

He let go.

Franken watched Spirit slide across the floor. For the first time in hours he felt panic grip him. Franken eyes went wide as the thing stepped closer to him. He stood up fast, and spun only to come face to face with a ghost of a girl not much older than him.

_ "Beware the Rake," _she said in a light voice that sounded more like a sigh than a warning.

Franken spun again to find the Rake not two feet away from him. Franken back petled and tripped over something. He landed on his back. He brought himself up to a sitting position. Franken watched the Rake raise its hand over his head. He couldn't move.

As the Rake lowered its hand to slash across Franken's slim body something with red hair knocked into it and both of them went tumbling.

Franken watched Spirit cling to the Rake's back. It used its long arms to carve Spirit's back up, but he still didn't let go. The Rake growled and lunged forward suddenly, sending Spirit flying. Spirit flipped over himself a few times on the blood covered floor, only to right himself and land on his feet.

Spirit grinned at the Rake, who growled in return. It launched forward and used its knife-like fingers to rip four strips into Spirit's chest.

Spirit remained standing, and grinning. He pointed behind the Rake, and fell onto the floor, taking shuttering breaths.

The Rake turned to see what the red head weapon had pointed at, only to receive a cross bow bolt in its forehead.

At the same moment the Rake turned Franken ran to where Spirit laid.

He was still grinning like an idiot.

Franken looked over the wound, wishing he could do something. _Father would know what to do._

_Then it's a good thing that he's here._

It wasn't until that moment that he noticed the other living souls. He had been too caught up in his own feelings.

Kurt raced over to where Spirit laid, while Mary took the axe she was holding to the Rake. After a few swings she reduced it to bloody pulp. She then joined the group gathering around Spirit.

"Is he alright?" she asked her husband while kneeling down next to her son.

Kurt pursed his lips. "We need to get him back to the house. I also need to see the wound," he said as his hands when to the bottom of Spirit's shirt.

"Screw that," groaned Spirit from below them. He started to get up.

"Young man you need to lie down," Mary frowned as Kurt and the thicker of the DWMA men tried to make Spirit lie down. Spirit threw his fist into the DWMA man's nose and took off running.

The man swore vulgarly and set off after the sprinting weapon. The rest followed, with Mary in the very behind. She was caring her son, and spared a few second to look at the Rake again, who was already healing.

. -*-

Spirit was panting. His chest hurt with every breath, and there was more pain that the claw marks could take credit for.

_ I'm having a panic attack!_ He thought as he slowed down. He leaned against a tree and tried to get his breathing under control. It didn't work.

As the weapon leaned against the tree he saw darkness eating away at the corners of his vision. _Great, now I'm going to pass out._

He saw the grey haired man walk out of the trees, with the others close by. The grey haired woman was carrying Franken. _His parents?_

"Spirit, don't worry. Everything's going to be alright," the man said cautiously as he slowly approached the gasping red head.

"How the Hell do you know my name?" he asked. The man eyed his wife, and then took a step closer.

"I just need to see the wound."

"And that's not going to happen without me freaking out." Spirit gritted his teeth as he touched his chest. "Can't you just wait until I pass out?"

He raised an eyebrow. "Is that really necessary?"

Spirit nodded. "Yes, it is." He fell forward.

Kurt lunged forward and caught the demon scythe. He looked barley conscious. Kurt held the boy so that his arms supported under Spirit's knees and shoulders. Spirit looked up at him, looking confused. Before Kurt could respond to the look Spirit looked over at his son. Franken looked the demon scythe over, observing him.

Spirit fell into darkness.

. -*-

Kurt looked down at the boy resting on Franken's bed. He stitched up and rapped all of his wounds in gauze. Mary had taken the outer layer of Spirit's clothes so she could mend and wash them, leaving Spirit in a light pink tank top and light grey shorts that were just higher than mid-thigh. His collar bone length hair covered his face, and his arms and legs were very thin.

He looked like a girl.

Kurt gritted his teeth. He had no problem with girls looking like men, but boys looking like women were another matter entirely. He walked down to where Mary was making dinner

"How's Spirit?" she asked without taking her eyes off of the stove.

"He needs time to heal, new clothes, a hearty meal, and a haircut."

"All that?"

"Mary, the boy was attacked by a Legend. He is lucky to be alive. They both are."

Mary dropped her head. "We always knew it would come to this."

"Did we?" Kurt asked while he sat down. He rubbed his lips with his hand.

Mary sat down beside her husband. "We don't have to let him do this."

"Mary, we have sheltered the boy enough."

"That's our job."

"He is growing up."

Mary ground and stood up. "He's only ten."

Kurt chuckled. "You've gone soft."

There was a pure second of silence, then Kurt found himself press against the wall with a knife against his throat.

"I haven't gone soft," she hissed.

Kurt chuckled at his wife again. She was so hot headed. As Mary backed away from him he looked around.

"Where is our little monster? He should be resting."

Mary half-smiled. "Oh, most likely out chasing the chickens."

Kurt kissed his wife on the cheek. "Better than chasing girls."

Mary half-heartedly aimed a wooden spoon at him, which barley missed, and Kurt left the house laughing.

He found Franken neat the chicken coop, just like Mary said. He watched as Franken aimed a kick at one of the chickens, making her flap her wings.

Kurt snuck up behind his son. Franken must have known he was there, but he didn't do anything. With one well aimed kick Kurt raised Franken off of the ground, and he landed a few feet away. It wasn't enough to hurt him, only to teach him a lesion.

Franken turned and looked at his father. "What was that for?"

Kurt pointed at the chicken that Franken had kicked. "Why did you kick her?"

"I was just trying to make her fly. I wasn't trying to be mean. It was just an experiment."

Kurt shrugged. "Then I was just trying to make you fly. Come, you need to rest."

Franken frowned, but he followed his father back into the house. He watched his mother smile at him as they entered. He bounced up to her. "Mother, can you tell me a story?"

Mary smiled at him, and looked up at Kurt, who was smiling too. "Maybe. You and Spirit both need rest."

"Please!"

Mary chuckled. "If Spirit wakes up before you're ready for bed then I'll tell you a story."

Franken ran for the shower, only stopping at his room to grab his clothes. He spared a second to look at Spirit. He looked bad. It had taken his mother and father an hour and a half to convince the DWMA people to let him stay here until he got well enough to travel.

As Franken was thinking Spirit stirred, and then woke up. He looked over at the gray haired boy. "Franken?"

The smaller boy broke out into a smile when he saw Spirit was awake. "Now Mother will tell us a story!" and with that he left, leaving Spirit to draw his own conclusions.

Spirit looked around the room. It was off white, with black paint that made the room look like it was stitched up. He was lying on a bed that rested against the center wall, with a small toy chest to his far upper-right and a small bookcase to his upper left. There was a closet next to the toy box.

For a second Spirit's eyes rested on the bookcase. It had been weeks since he had soothed his soul with the written word. Just the thought of having a book in his hand almost brought tears to his eyes. Was it worth the pain and possible reopening of his wounds to simply have a book?

After deciding that it was Spirit tried to get up, only to be pushed down by Franken's father.

"Are you okay? Is something wrong?"

Spirit blinked in confusion, and then reached out his hand like a blind man towards the bookcase. "Books..."

Kurt blinked twice, but he did go over to the shelf. "I'm not sure if Franken has a book written in English..."

"Doesn't matter. Just give me one."

Kurt shrugged and handed Spirit a book at random. He didn't even look at the fount cover; he simply held the book to his chest and started to rock back and forth. He looked like he was about to cry.

Kurt touched his shoulder. "I've brought one of my smaller shirts, if you want it," he said holding up a tan and grey flannel shirt. Spirit was nodded before he even had a chance to look at it. Kurt nodded and left the room, leaving the shirt where Spirit could reach it.

Spirit groaned and hissed as he got on the shirt, but he did put it on. As he went to grab the book he noticed a large, under stuffed teddy bear. It was made of two different shades of grey, and had stitches all over it.

Spirit picked up the bear and hugged it cautiously. When was the last time he had a toy to sleep with? Ten? Eleven? Spirit stopped the memories before they could happen. They hurt too much.

"His name's Stiches."

Spirit started and looked over to the door, where the owner of the room had just appeared. He was looking at the bear in Spirit arms.

"Sorry," Spirit said while he put the bear on the bed next to him.

Franken climbed onto the other side of the bed and held Stiches to his chest. "Mother made him. Maybe she could make one for you too."

Spirit's brow knitted together, but he smiled. "He your best friend?"

Franken pause and looked off, as though this thought had never struck him. "I guess so."

"He got any special powers?"

Franken's eyes narrowed as he nodded. "He keeps the bad things away. That's why Mother made him for me."

Spirit smiled. He loved little kids. "She did a good job, then."

Franken nodded absentmindedly and went back to holding his teddy bear. Spirit continued to watch him, smiling. Suddenly Franken looked up, and a few second after that his mother came through the door.

Mary shut the door behind her and went over to the boys. "Are you alright?" she asked Spirit.

He nodded and winced. "I'll be alright in a few days."

She smiled at looked at her son, who was pulling the blanket up to his waist. After he was done he set the bear on his lab so it was sitting up. He smiled at her expectantly.

She chuckled. "What story do you want to hear?"

"Something new," Franken said, almost bouncing up and down in his bed. "Something you've never told me before."

Mary raised an eyebrow and looked at the guest. "Any objections?"

Spirit looked briefly surprised. "None at all."

Mary smiled a bit and started to think. She had told Franken a lot of her stories, she was running out. But there was that one...

The boys watched her sit down at the end of the bed. She cleared her throat, and when she started to talk her voice was deep and mysterious. Only a fool would interrupt her while she was speaking in this voice.

"Once upon a time there was nothing. Then there was Idea. No one knew how he was thought up, but he was. At first he didn't think much, being a thought himself, but he got tired of the loneness so it thought. He became a conscious being, as real as you and me, but still just a thought. He longed for more, but he didn't have the power.

"Then she came. No one knew how she ended up in the Dark with Idea, but she was there. And she helped him create the universe, and the very Earth on which stand at his very moment. She help him realized that in nothingness one could create with thought.

"She traveled around this planet with Idea.' What is so special about this place?' she asked. 'Why is there air to breath and earth to walk on?'

"He thought about this. One day he went to the girl. 'I want to have something here. Something besides us.' He took a stick and sat on the ground. He began to draw creatures of every shape and size. After he was done he tried to bring his creations to life, but it didn't work. So he asked the girl.

"She looked at the drawings. 'They have no color' she told him. He asked her was color was. She went over to the nearby lake, and scooped up some water. Whatever she did was magic, for when it came down it was much too much and much to slow. As the sun shone through the water it made something beautiful. It made a rainbow.

"She helped him color the drawings, he colored them smart colors, and she colored then strange colors. After they were done he still couldn't bring them to life. The girl told him that it was because this reality didn't have life yet. So they made her.

"She was beautiful, but fragile. Her hair glowed white and her eyes were ice blue. With her help they brought the creatures to life.

"After a few bad attempts they managed to get all of the animals to their proper homes, and all seemed well for a while, but while Idea was exploring his earth he found one of his creatures half eaten by something else. As he watched nothing happened. He went to talk to the girl and Life. They told him that there was Life, and nothing else.

"And so, with the girl's help, he made Death, War, Famine, and Pestilence.

"Lord Death was to bring souls of the dead back to Life, and either the souls would be destroyed, or reused. But not many animals knew badness, so most of the souls were reused.

"Lady War brought emotions with her. Not only rage and bloodlust, but hope and happiness. But again this seemed to be wasted as animals did have emotions, but they reacted more to instincts then emotions.

"Lady Famine brought sacristy with her. Not every being got food, while some got way too much. This created more death (which kept Death busy) and conflict (which amused War). But again with only animals it was somehow unfulfilling for Famine, and she soon stopped watching at all, letting her famine rage over the lands.

"And Lord Pestilence let his diseases change the earth uncaringly (he wasn't an animal lover). This created extra work for Death, and War didn't like how they simply faded from life. She claimed it was boring, but Pestilence apparently didn't give a crap, seeing how he let his ailments continue to ravage the earth.

"Life watched the four with a heavy heart, and after a while she gave up making souls, for it made her sad to watch the things she created only live long enough to amusement for the four. Two out of the four begged for her to continue making the souls. War asked abruptly and when Life refused she only shrugged. Death didn't ask her at all. He had spent the most time with her when he was bringing the souls back to Eden. He couldn't bear to ask if it only caused her pain.

"Idea watched with an even heavier heart. He went to talk to the girl, who had started to say in her room because she thought Pestilence annoying. After tell her his problem she thought, and then she asked permission to add to his reality. He was confused, but he agreed.

"First she made the Seven Sins, who helped Life make souls. Next she made humans, a race of indecisive people, who each had their own strength and weaknesses.

"Lastly she took some of her own power and created a seed, which she planted in the middle of the gardens of Eden. From the seed grew the Tree of Creations. She told him that this tree gave the person that ate the fruit they would have the ability to create for a limited amount of time, but it came with a price. The Apples were full of madness, and only the strong willed would survive.

"She told the four to each eat an apple, and that they each could create a race.

"Death went first. He created the meisters and weapons, to help him reap souls. The meisters had the ability to see souls of living people, and weapons, people who turn into, well, weapons.

"War went next. She created the Hunters, a race of gray haired warriors who had one certain weapon attached to their soul, and unlike Death's weapons the Hunters' weapons were a part of their souls, and were not other people. But they, like the Apples, had madness in their souls which made them stronger and faster, but it felt them unstable and hard to control. That's why War made it so that if someone had gain excess to the weapon of a Hunter, then they could control the Hunter almost completely.

"Famine came next. She created a race in her image and gave them the magic one singular animal. She created a race of magic women, witches.

"Pestilence watched the other four make their races with a sneer on his face. He wanted a race that was like a disease, and he created one. From him came the kishins, a cowardly race that feed on human souls in order to become stronger.

"When the girl found out what Pestilence did she was very angry. She told Lord Death that if his meisters got their weapons to eat ninety-nine kishin souls and one witches souls that they would become a Death Scythe, a very powerful weapon and the only kind that he could wield.

"After what the girl told Death Famine and Pestilence were mad, and well, War just likes to start arguments. The four were on the brink of war.

"Idea should have done something, but he had problems on his own. He was fading. Like always he went to the girl for help. She told him that he had served his purpose and that he was no longer needed. He didn't want to disappear, so the girl took him to a room with one mirror. She told him that he needed to think of a name for himself. If he ever stepped outside of the room without a name he would fade. To this day Idea hasn't come out of that room.

"Without Idea the four decided to go to war. The girl told them to pick a second in command, an Alice.

"War held a tournament, and the winner, a Broadsword Huntress named Blace became the Alice of Spade.

"Death went to Life, hoping that she would be his Alice, but she refused. Death cared deeply for Life, and tried to cheer her up. They lay together that night, and Life gave birth to a son and a daughter. The son, who took after his father, was named Amin and became the Alice of Diamond.

"Famine looked at her strongest witches, the Crow, the Chicken, and the Phoenix. While the Phoenix was the strongest she had no desire to be Alice, so the Chicken used her charm to earn the job. And so the Chicken Witch Baba Yaga became the Alice of Clubs.

"No one knew how Pestilence picked his Alice, but he picked a young pair of twin kishin eggs, and the stubborn Ananna and the clever Quinntin became the Alice of Heart.

"The four quickly realized that the war was useless, but they couldn't just suddenly stop. It was the girl who came up with the idea. She would give the four a curse, and they either would curse themselves or their people.

"Lady War chose to curse her people. It was death without death. She set her Hunters against each other, and only two were left standing. The Red Alice Blace and the Bowsman Aerron. They were lovers and refused to fight each other. War made them mad for the impudence, and she collected the souls of her fallen ones.

"Lady Famine cursed her people too. Now deep within witches lurks the desire to do evil, the Sway of Magic. The witches were never the same again.

"Lord Pestilence gave his people the curse of blood red souls, so everyone with soul perception would be able to tell who they were.

"Lord Death kept his punishment, and he was cursed with mortality. Not only he would die and his son became Lord Death, but his son would be the death of him.

Mary stood and pushed the boys back so they were lying down. "Bed time."

"But the story can't be over now!" Spirit exclaimed.

Mary shut off the light, but she looked back the boys with a mischievous twinkle in them. "Who ever said that was the ending?" She smirked at them and left.

Franken fell asleep quickly, but Spirit stayed up, thinking about the story. When he did fall asleep his dreams were filled with a beautiful warring land, and a young singing man with blue hair.

. -*-

**Sorry this took so long. I have so many excuses, but let's not bore you with them.**

**Mary's Story- It's a mixture of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse and Alice of Human Sacrifice. It's basically the origin story of Soul Eater world. I made it up. Also Lord Death made demon weapons, not Arachne. Also it's not the same Lord Death from Soul Eater. This was like before time even existed, and Death is mortal, so this Lord Death is like the Lord Death from Soul Eater's Great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandfather. The beginning of time was a long time ago. Time didn't even exist yet. **

**... I don't really have much to talk about...**

**Comments? Questions? Please review. Constructive criticism is appreciated, but nothing too harsh, I have a delicate self-esteem.**

** Your friendly neighborhood,**

** Abesgoldenfriend**


	5. Reviving

**I don't own Soul Eater. That being said I would like to thank all those that are following a favoring my story. I would also love to give a big thanks to all those who reviewed. On with the chapter!**

. -*-

Victoria was the first of her little party to awaken. She was sharing a room with Carrie and Jenny, both of whom had their blankets pulled tightly around them. The boys were sleeping across the hall, in their own room.

She went through her bag, grabbing her soaps. After the Steins convinced them to let the demon scythe stay there they went to town and rented some rooms at a local inn. Victoria started for the bathroom. Since she was the first one awake she would have to contact Lord Death and tell him about the boys, a task that Victoria wasn't looking forward too.

Victoria hissed as warm water poured down on her. She turned the hot nozzle all the way off, and started to scrub her hair. It wasn't like she didn't like Lord Death; it was just at times she found him annoying. And fake. And he was a physical representation of things she didn't like: order, following rules without question. Victoria wasn't one to take stuff lying down.

There was another reason she didn't like to talk to Lord Death, but she never thought about that reason. It went along with something she had buried deep in her.

_Why the hell do I keep my hair this long? _She thought as she scrubbed her hip length locks. _I hate dealing with long hair._

_ Viki, please keep your hair long. It looks to pretty like that._

She stopped the memory before it could surface. She was good at that. Burring stuff, keeping secrets. That was what her whole life was. A secret.

She excited the shower and got dressed quickly, leaving her trademark cowboy boots for last. She looked at the steam covered mirror and sighed. _Better now than never._

She wrote out 42-42-564 on the mirror, and watched the mirror ripple like water.

"Hey, wazzup?" the grim reaper waved his large foam hands at Victoria.

Victoria couldn't help but smile. "Hello Lord Death. Are you well?"

"As well as always Victoria," he replied. _There it is, _Victoria thought. _Every time he says my name there's a small hitch in his voice. _"Did you find the demon scythe?"

"Yes, and the meister. In fact, they met each other before we did. They killed a kishin egg."

"Oh, well tell them well done from me. Where are they now?"

Victoria lowered her eyes. "They were attacked by a soulless creature called a Rake."

"A Rake? You don't think..."

Victoria smirked a bit. "Yep, the Legends are coming back."

Lord Death looked off for a moment. "What very dire news. And here I thought that they had disappeared."

"The one we in countered was trapped under a church."

Lord Death looked back at Victoria. "And the boys?"

"Spirit was hurt badly, but thankfully Kurt Stein is a doctor, so we left him in his care."

"And what do Franken's parents think about his joining the Academy early?"

Victoria shrugged. "They haven't really decided."

"And Spirit?"

Victoria out right smiled at this one. "I don't think he's very keen on it at the moment."

"Oh?"

"He punched Barnaby in the nose. It was hilarious."

Lord Death held up one of his overly large fingers and wagged it. "Victoria, it's not nice to laugh at the pain of a fellow meister."

"Oh, come on. A scrawny little red head almost breaking Barnaby Arsenio's nose, who, I might add, is one of the best meisters at the DWMA. Tell me that's not funny."

"That's not funny."

Victoria shrugged again. "Okay, your perfect, I'm not. And I thought it was funny."

"I'm not perfect," Lord Death said softly. Victoria pretended that she didn't hear that.

There was silence for a few minutes. Victoria stared at Lord Death, while he looked at her cowboy boots.

_Should I be looking down too? _She looked down at the bottom of his robe, before returning them to his mask. She didn't look at people feet. It just felt too weird.

It stayed like this, until there was a loud nock on the door, and both Lord Death and Victoria jumped.

"Tori, will you please be done!"

Lord Death waved hurriedly to her. "See ya!" And he was gone.

_What was that? _She stood there, thinking about what had just happened.

"Tori!"

Victoria growled to herself. She opened the door, to see Genevive standing there.

"Took long enough," she sighed.

Victoria gritted her teeth. Genevive Prescott was the oldest member of the staff, excluding Lord Death, at the DWMA. She was in her early forties, with waist length copper hair light purple, which she shared with her little brother, Andrew.

Even though she was almost forty, she didn't look it, but she's really sensitive about her age either way. Only a person with a death wish would talk about her age, and Lord Death promised to Reaper Chop anyone who talked about it.

Carrie was still sleeping. Victoria walked out of the room and almost ran into Malcolm, who was in the proses of putting his dreadlocks into a ponytail.

"Did you sleep well, Vick?" he asked with a sleepy smile.

Victoria nodded. "Yep, well except for that nightmare, but nothing new."

"The same one?"

Victoria looked off. "No, this time it was different." She shook her head, clearing away thoughts. "Anyway I talked to Lord Death this morning."

"And?"

"I told him about the boys."

"And?"

"I told him about the Rake."

Malcolm rolled his eyes. He hated to deal with Victoria in the morning. Sometimes getting information out of her is like pulling teeth. "Victoria please, tell me how my meister is doing."

"Strange."

Malcolm groaned. "Victoria."

"Okay, he said that the boys did a good job, and that the Rake thing was a bad turn of events, and he became all weird after I called him perfect. That's all."

"'Weird'?"

Victoria thought about it, and shrugged. "All quiet. Most days you can't get him to shut up, but he's always so quiet around me."

Malcolm shrugged. "It's nothing to be concerned about."

"Are you saying that as my friend, or Lord Death's weapon?"

Malcolm chuckled. "That's for me to know and for you to find out."

. -*-

Spirit woke up shaking. He sat up, fighting for air. His chest felt like someone had taken a sledge hammer to it.

He didn't hear the door open, or the small boy walk in. "Do you want me to get Father?"

Spirit looked over at the boy. Franken was holding a plate of steaming food. As Spirit settled down he could talk again.

"No that won't be necessary," Spirit said quietly as he looked at the food, mouthwatering. Franken followed his eyes, and handed the plate to Spirit, who started to eat it slowly.

After Franken set down a glass of milk on the side table he left. It was only then when Spirit realized what he was eating. There was a bisect that was sliced in half, with cold cut meat and slice cheese on it. There was also homemade bread with jam, and scrambled eggs, which surprised Spirit. He had heard that Germans eat soft boiled eggs.

He continued to eat slowly, so he wouldn't puke up what he had just eaten. When he was done he drank the milk, which was thicker than he was used to. He set both the plate and the cup on the bed side table and thought of something to do. His eyes landed on the book.

He picked it up and started to read it. It turned out to be a book of local folk stories, which he put down after he read the first story, which was about these supernatural creatures trading human children teeth for protection for the kids, but after the parents stopped feeding the creatures the creatures slaughtered all the children in the village.

Spirit looked back over to the bookshelf. He slid off the bed carefully and scooted over to where the bookcase was. Most of the books seemed to be medical in nature, which Franken must have stolen from his father, but the others were just creepy fantasies. Except for a small, thick red journal. There was a darker red spade on the cover.

. -*-

Franken walked through town holding a basket of eggs, which his mother told him to trade with Mrs. Wagner for some black fabric. He was halfway there when Wolfgang and his friends stopped him.

Wolfgang was a large meaty boy two and a half times the size of Franken, and his four followers were a mirror of him.

"Where're you going?" Wolfgang asked viciously.

Franken backed up a bit and hid the eggs slightly behind him. "Mrs. Wagner's house."

Wolfgang smiled viciously at his friends before walking towards Franken a little. "Why?"

"Mother asked me to."

"You always do what your mother asks?"

Franken raised his eyebrow. "Would you?"

For a moment they went pale. Mary was one of those people you said "no" to only if you were very closer to her, or if you wanted to be hung upside down until you passed out from blood loss.

"Franken?"

The small boy turned to see Victoria and Malcolm striding towards them. They looked at the boys. "Are they friends of yours?"

"No."

Victoria looked at Malcolm with a half-smile, who smiled back. "Are they enemies?"

Franken looked over the other German boys. "I guess."

Malcolm chuckled and out of the corner of Franken's eye he saw mint green glowing. Franken watched as all ten of Malcolm's fingers turned into long curved grey metal. He ran his thumb over the rest of his fingers, creating a sharp slicing noise.

The boys took off running. Victoria's cruel laughter followed them.

. -*-

Spirit opened the journal. It didn't have any dates on it, and it was written in a language that Spirit didn't know which surprised him. He flipped through it a few times, and then set it down. He couldn't read it any more that it could fly.

Spirit started to read the creepy folktales book again, and this time he read about a doll that murdered an entire family with a wooden knife.

. -*-

"_Guten Morgen_," Mrs. Wagner said as she opened the door. "How are you, little Franken?"

"_Guten Morgen Frau _Wagner. I am well," Franken answered politely. "My mother would like some black cloth."

Mrs. Wagner smiled strangle at the small boy. "And what have you to trade?"

Franken held out the basket of eggs and the old woman smiled. She snatched the basket away, dumped out the eggs without breaking them, load up some black fabric, and pushed Franken towards the door. She pushed him out and shut the door before he could say thank you.

Victoria followed the boy as he left, and Malcolm walked next to her humming the _Batman _theme song.

"When will Spirit be well enough to travel?" Victoria asked.

"Father said that Spirit should be well enough to attend the festival."

Victoria and Malcolm exchanged a look. "What festival?"

Franken looked at them through the corner of his eye. "In two day the yearly Teeth Festival will happen. Father said that Spirit should be well enough for that."

"What do you do at this festival?" Malcolm asked with some excitement.

Franken shrugged. "Sell stuff, play games, eat, tell stories. Nothing unusual."

Malcolm smiled gleefully. "Maybe we should stay for the festival."

Victoria shook her head, but she had a small amused smile on her face. "But your Lord Death's death scythe. You should be by his side."

"Victoria!"

Victoria laughed. "I'll see what I can do." She turned back to where Franken was, only to find him gone.

. -*-

Spirit sat down the book. He had finished the book of creepy folktales, and he was going to have nightmares tonight.

He picked up the journal again. He flipped though it a few times. The only new thing he noticed was on the corner of the pages was an animated picture, so that every time he flipped through it a stick figure killed other stick figures.

He put the books back and stood up. His chest and back hurt like hell, but he had had worse.

He looked around the small room. His eyes landed on the door. As soon as he was better they would take him. They would use him. He couldn't be used again. He wouldn't.

Spirit walked towards the door. As he opened it and slipped outside he noticed the bathroom. He absentmindedly ran his hand through his hair. He hated greasy hair. He slipped into the bathroom.

. -*-

Franken watched his mother finish Spirit's clothes. He felt Spirit's soul move from his bedroom to the bathroom, so he told his mother.

"I'd better finish this quick then," she sighed running her hand through her short grey hair. Mary hated domestic tasks, but Kurt refused to do them.

"Why do you say that, _Mutter_?" Franken asked as he lead over the edge of the loveseat.

Mary set down the pants she was working on. "_Mein sohn,_ Spirit is one people who leave, not because they wish to harm people, or because he doesn't like whom he's stay with. He just leaves."

"Why?"

Mary looked away from her boy and to the one in her bathroom. "Because that's what he's use to doing. That's what he's been told to do. That's what he's been taught to do."

Franken looked over to his mother. "Why?"

"Spirit has been through terrible things in his past. At times he's had to run to survive."

"Why?"

"Franken, please go bother your father."

Franken crossed his arms. "Father told me to come bother you."

Mary groaned. She worked on the pants until they were finished. After they were done she went upstairs and into the bathroom. Sitting nicely folded on the toilet was his old clothes. She picked up the clothes and left the new ones in their place.

. -*-

Spirit started to breathe again after Mrs. Stein left. He had previous knowledge that someone coming into the bathroom while you're taking a shower is never a good sign.

He peaked out of the shower and saw the clothes. He looked at them for a bit, confused. Why would she buy him clothes?

Spirit finished up in the shower, and when he looked over the clothes he discovered that it wasn't just a shirt and pant, but also socks, underwear, and shoes, all of which were black. He got his lower half dressed fairly quickly, and when he unfolded the shirt something metallic hit the ground.

He picked it up. It was a metal cross. He attached it to his collar. He looked at himself in the mirror. The pants and the shirt were both long-sleeved. The shirt was button up with golden clothe buttons. He looked good. _Very _good.

His hair ruined the look. So did his eyes. They were too wide, and looked permanently fearful. Spirit relaxed a bit; so that his weren't all the way open. Much better.

He towel dried his hair, and brushed it. As he walked outside the door he was met with an excited looking Mr. and Mrs. Stein.

Mary smiled when she saw how the clothes fit him. "Oh, wonderful!"

Kurt smiled too when he saw his charge able to walk around so soon. "You heal quickly. Now we just need to cut his hair."

They continued to talk among themselves, but they stopped when they saw Spirit's face. He looked very confused, and his eyes were wide again.

They fell quiet. "Come Spirit, let's get you a haircut," Mary said holding Spirit's shoulder and lead him down the stairs. When they got him into the kitchen Mary pushed Spirit down on the stool.

Mary threw a towel over Spirit's shoulders.

"I thought that I'd be cutting his hair," Kurt said leaning against the door frame.

Mary eyed her husband. "It's much easier to cut hair with a knife then with an arrow."

Kurt laughed as Mary grabbed a large knife and started to cut Spirit's hair. When she was done she offered the boy a mirror.

Spirit's lips twitched into a smile when he saw his hair. It was now chin length, except for his bangs, which were cut so they were slightly under his nose.

"Thank you," Spirit said in a horse whisper.

Mary smiled. "Franken is outside with the chickens, if you want to see him."

Spirit nodded, keeping his eyes on the ground. He walked out the back door.

Mary watched him with a sad smile.

Kurt came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her. "See, you have gone soft."

Kurt laughter was cut off by the sound of several knifes hitting wood and one hitting flesh.

. -*-

Franken held out both arms to keep himself balanced as he walked across the fence.

"Hey."

Franken turned around to see Spirit walking towards him. "You're wearing the clothes Mother made."

Spirit stopped dead in his tracks. "She... She made these?" he said running his hands over this shirt. Franken nodded. A strange look came over Spirit's face, as though he didn't know how to deal with that.

"Mother traded a lot of eggs for the cloth, and we usually sell the eggs at the festival."

Spirit looked at the boy with a curious look on his face. "Festival?"

Franken nodded again. "Around the last week of summer we all take our trades up to the _Hexenturm_ and we sell our things to each other, play games, and have a community feast," Franken said as he pointed into the distance.

"Hexenturm?" Spirit asked following Franken's finger. A very tall and sinister looking tower loomed in the distance.

"The witch's tower."

. -*-

**Sorry this chapter was so short. It just felt like a good spot to stop. And guess what! I got a German book from the local library, so now the German people will be speaking German! I'll put some key at the bottom so you'll know what it means.**

_**Guten Morgen- **_**Good Morning**

_**Frau**_**- It means Mrs. but you use it for almost every woman apperently, no matter there marital status, because modern women don't like the word for miss.**

_**Mutter- **_**Mother**

_**Mein sohn- **_**My son**

_**Hexenturm- **_**I didn't get this word from the German book, but from a book called **_**The World's Creepiest Places by Dr. Bob Curran**_**, so I don't know if it's correct or not.**

**Victoria is going to be one of my favorite people to write for, simply because she gets a kick out of annoying people. **

**Please review, I fricken' love reviews. **

** Abesgoldenfriend**


	6. Leaving

**I don't own Soul Eater. I must say I'm loving writing this story. Please review. **

. -*-

Spirit was a fool.

He liked Kurt and Mary Stein. He knew it was incredibly stupid of him, but he couldn't help it.

Kurt was a tall, muscular man. He looked like someone had tried to make him look strong and serious, but the constant twinkle in his blue eyes and permanent upturn of his lips almost diminished the effect. Almost. He always seemed to be laughing about something, even after Spirit and Franken walked in on Mary cleaning up a wound on Kurt rather close to his heart.

Mary was as tall as him, and almost a strong. Her jaw had a more feminine outline to it, that Franken had inherited. Her grey hair was the longest of her family, but still only to her jaw. Her brown eyes had an anger to them that only seemed to disappear when her husband or her son was present. Or him. She didn't seem to like being a domestic wife, but she would do it for her family.

They weren't very old, late twenties or early thirties at the most.

Kurt only wore tan, and Mary only wore red. Mary wore a pendent under her tunic, and whenever it slipped out she shoved back in before she thought anyone noticed.

But Spirit noticed. He couldn't help himself. He noticed everything he could. Anything he didn't notice it might end up killing him. He trusted them, and he hated himself for it. He knew what happened when you trusted someone; they betray you and you end up in the System again, fighting for your life.

He had liked the old woman. She turned out to be a cannibal.

He knew better than to trust.

Then why was he here, in the back of a wagon, surrounded by small mountains of eggs, and baking goods?

Spirit didn't know. The only thing that he knew was that they were heading to the Teeth Festival, and after the festival the DWMA people would take him back to America, either into the school or back into the System.

Spirit couldn't choose either. He wanted his freedom, and the cost of his freedom would be a warm bed and a roof over his head. Besides, they all turned out to be the same. The wonderful lady turned into a demon after the cops closed the door. They were all the same.

. -*-

Victoria had disappeared. Malcolm wasn't surprised.

Malcolm watched the festival from the window from his room. The other four had returned to Death City, while he and Victoria had stayed to hear the demon scythe's choice.

Victoria was always disappearing. Ever since she and Daniel left to kill that witch. Years later Victoria came back, but Daniel never did.

She's never told anyone what happened. No matter how many times they ask. Barnaby Arsenio thought she killed him. So did Genevive. Carrie didn't give a rat's ass and no one knew Andrew's opinion.

Lord Death didn't think she killed Daniel. And neither did Malcolm. But it didn't matter. No one but Victoria and Daniel knew what happened that night, and Victoria was too caught up in her whole "lone ranger that doesn't quite fit in her own skin" thing.

Malcolm smiled. _Oh, well. Just because she's not here doesn't mean I can't have a good time._

. -*-

Elva was excited for the Teeth Festival. Her older sister wasn't. Odette hated any reminders of childhood.

Elva ran through the town, watching various people selling things. The selling came first, then the games, then the feast, and then the stories. The stories were always her favorite.

Behind the running Elva, Odette followed calling after her little sister. Odette growled. Why did she have to watch Elva? Elva was old enough to watch herself. She just wanted to stay home with mom.

Odette watched Elva run towards the Steins' booth. Father hated them. Everyone hated them, but Kurt was the only doctor in town, so it's not like they could just get them to leave. People bought things from them not out of necessity, but of fear. What would happen if the only doctor for miles left?

. -*-

Spirit watched a little girl with short brown hair run up to the booth, with a taller girl with the same brown hair run after her.

The smaller girl smiled and waved at him before addressing Mr. and Mrs. Stein. He had no idea what they were saying. The older girl nodded at the adult Steins before talking to her little sister, who pointed at him.

"Am I in trouble?" Spirit whispered to Kurt, who gave a little chuckle.

"Elva has never seen hair as red as yours."

Spirit ran a hand through his hair self-consciously. He tucked a strand behind his ear. "And the older girl?" he asked with a slight smile.

Kurt quirked a grin. "Odette is telling her sister that it's not nice comment on things she never seen before."

"Oh."

Spirit watched Odette hold Elva close to her body, looking angrily down on the smaller one.

_"Holen Sie einen Arzt! Holen Sie einen Arzt!"_

Spirit turned to see a man running towards them. He looked crazed.

Spirit stepped in front of Franken a bit. "Who is that?"

"That's Elva and Odettes' father, _Herr _Lempert."

He watched the relief in Lempert's face when he spotted Mr. Stein. He talked to him hurriedly, pointing to where he had just come from. Behind Spirit Mary gasped.

"What happened?" Spirit asked with concern as Kurt and Lempert raced to where Lempert had pointed.

"Mr. Lempert's wife just went into labor," Mary said as she picked Franken up under his arms. Franken bent his legs so when Mary set him down on the table he was kneeling.

"I thought that _Frau_ Lempert wasn't due for another few weeks," Franken said looking back at his mother.

Mary nodded and looked to where her husband had disappeared. "I'm sure everything is alright."

Spirit nodded, but as he nodded he saw something out of the corner of his eye. The witch's tower. They weren't directly under it, but it wouldn't take much of a walk to get to it. "What's the story behind the witch's tower?"

Both Mary and Franken looked at the witch's tower. Franken turned back to his mother, obviously expecting a story.

Mary sighed. "The tower was built in the 1200s, during a witch hunt. People that the witch hunters thought were witches were imprisoned in the tower. A lot of people died in that tower." A strange look came over Mary, as though she was looking into the past.

"Were any of them witches?" Spirit asked as he turned to the young grey haired woman.

Mary frowned. "There was only one woman who was killed there who was really a witch. They took her to the top of the tower and burned her, for the whole world to see, including her three daughters, who had managed to escape the witch hunters."

Spirit shook his head and looked back at the tower. How many innocent people died there?

_No one is innocent. You know that._

_Shut up._

"I want to go to the tower," Franken said as he slid off the table. "_Mutter, _may I go to the tower?"

"_Liebling, _that might not be a good idea," Mary said after some hesitation.

Franken pointed at the taller boy. "What if I take Spirit with, may I go then?"

Mary hesitated, and then sighed. "You are growing up," she said softly. "You may go if Spirit agrees."

Franken looked at Spirit with a hopeful look. Spirit looked down, but then back up. "Alright."

Franken smiled and started to run off. Spirit started to run with him when he turned back to Mary. "I'll watch him."

Mary smiled. "I know you will. I trust you."

Spirit nodded and ran after Franken, with Mary's words echoing though his mind. Guilt, self-hatred, anger, sadness and envy mixed around in his stomach until he thought he was going to puke.

_I know you will. I trust you._

_I trust you._

_Trust._

. -*-

Victoria was watching from a far. Like she was used to doing. This was safe. A lot safer, for everyone. She was sitting on top of a local's house, and so far she hasn't been caught. Her cowboy hat lay next to her.

She watched Mr. Stein and a local that she didn't know run though the town square, with two girls following. Curiosity twitched in her stomach, before flattening. It wasn't her business.

She watched two boys, and using her double green eyes targeting feature she found out where the two boys were heading. God, it rocked being a gun meister, even if she didn't have a weapon.

She pushed those thoughts away quickly, and focused her sight on Malcolm. The South African man was enjoying himself a great deal as he looked at the assortment of goods the towns people had brought.

Victoria looked back at the boys, pushing a dark brown lock behind her head. She pulled her knees up to her chest and set her head on top of them. She breathed slowly, enjoying the peace.

She turned her head slightly, and she saw something out of the corner of her eye, that surprised her so much that she hit the top of her head on a bit of roof.

"Lord Death?" Victoria hissed as she put her hat back on. In a near window Lord Death waved at her.

"Hello. It's been a few days since you last checked in so I thought..." he trailed off after seeing Victoria's glare.

"Just how long have you been watching?" Victoria said slowly, just so Lord Death could see how serious she was.

Lord Death waved away her words with one swipe of an overly large foam hand. "Only a few minutes. Why? Does it matter?"

"Remember what I said about my privacy?" Victoria rolled her eyes.

Lord Death thought for a moment. "Not really."

Victoria groaned. "Forget it."

Lord Death tilted his head a bit. "Victoria, is there something wrong?"

"Nope."

"You sure?"

"Completely."

Lord Death's mask took on a concerned look. "Well, as long as you're sure."

"Oh, I am."

Now the mask looked a bit sad. "Okay, I'll see you when you come back. You are coming back, right?" he asked suddenly.

Now Victoria tilted her head. "Why do you ask?"

Lord Death waved hurriedly, and a large drop of sweat formed on the side of his mask. "No reason at all!" he said a little too quickly and loudly. "Bye!" and he was gone.

Victoria watched the window, as though Lord Death would suddenly come back. After a few more seconds she threw her head back and groaned.

"What is that man doing to me?" she asked as she rubbed her light-and-dark green eyes.

. -*-

Spirit easily caught up to Franken, but he didn't outrun. He was too deep in thought planning his escape. He was so deep in thought that when Franken stopped he ran into the smaller boy, almost knocking him over.

"We're here," Franken said unnecessarily.

Spirit looked up. The tower was almost sixty feet tall. It was cylindrical, with square windows here and there. The top was flat. Ivy grew up the side. The plants around the tower were dead.

"The witch's tower," Spirit whispered. Both boys stayed still for a moment, but Franken crept forward. "This isn't a good idea," Spirit said as the smaller boy pushed against the door. Spirit sighed and followed suit.

Under the pressure of the two boys the door caved in, sending both boys sprawling over the threshold.

Franken crawled out from under Spirit. Inside the walls were lined with doors, and there was just enough room in the middle for a spiral staircase. There was a second floor above them, and who knew just how many after that?

Franken started to climb the staircase, with Spirit behind him. After walking up a few floors they were at the top, which was a room with half of the room as a cell.

Franken looked around. "How did they burn the witch at the top if the stairs only go this high up?"

Spirit was trying his best not to look down. The boards creaked ominously beneath his feet. "Maybe heading back down would be a good idea."

Franken ignored Spirit and looked up. A string dangled from the ceiling. "Look," he said pointing.

Spirit looked at the string. "A trap door?" He pulled down on the string, pulling down a latter. "Did these even exist back then?"

Franken didn't answer, but instead climbed up the latter. Spirit hesitated, looking back to the staircase. He followed Franken up the stairs.

The top was completely flat, so nothing would stop them from falling over the edge. Spirit looked off into the distance. "Hey, I can see your house from here."

Franken was too busy looking down. "Look at this burn." Spirit followed Franken's eyes down.

It was a very large burn shaped like a bird. It almost covered the whole top. Its face was turned sidewise exposing a beak, and where its eye would have been was a circle that wasn't burned like the area around it. It wings were outstretched, and at the ends they had a fiery pattern, the same was for the tail.

"A fire bird," Franken said.

"A phoenix," Spirit said softly.

Franken's eyes went wide as he thought of something. "Like in _Mutter's_ story. Remember! 'Famine looked at her strongest witches, the Crow, the Chicken, and the Phoenix. While the Phoenix was the strongest she had no desire to be Alice, so the Chicken used her charm to earn the job. And so the Chicken Witch Baba Yaga became the Alice of Clubs.'," he quoted. "The Phoenix Witch was the witch that was burned here in the 1200s."

Spirit looked at small, excited boy. He almost thought of staying. Almost. "If she was the most powerful witch, and she managed to live all the way into 1200 A.D. then how it they kill her?"

Franken looked at Spirit like he was an idiot. "Mother said that they burned her."

Spirit rolled his eyes. "Yes, we know that, but how did they get her bound up here in the first place?"

Franken frowned and looked down, as though the evidence would suddenly appear in front of him. In the direction of the village there was the sound of horns.

Franken looked up and gasped. "The games are starting. Come one!" he said running past Spirit, who followed quietly. As Franken ran back to the village he didn't notice Spirit disappear.

But the Rake did.

. -*-

Like always Mary's knife hit the target right in the center. Kurt shook his head. She was much too proud to let others win for a change. She was the best knife thrower, but every time she won the patience of the men who lost to her became a little less lenient.

The birth had gone fairly quick and easy, and after not too long, a boy was born. Lempert's first son. He was ecstatic, which was another reason Mary refused to lose to him.

When he felt something hit his leg Kurt looked down to see his own son there. He put an arm around Franken's slim shoulders. He didn't care what anyone else said. Franken was a blessing, to both him and Mary.

Kurt looked around Franken, expecting to see Spirit, and when he didn't a pang of worry made his chest clench. "Where's Spirit?"

Franken frowned and looked around. Kurt inwardly sighed. Franken was a bright boy, but he was a bit too single minded.

Mary came over to join them, and instantly saw that Spirit was gone. "He ran," she sighed. She picked up her son and went to watch the others at the games.

Franken watched the woods for a moment, before jumping out of his mother's arms and running towards the woods.

Mary got closer to Kurt, only for him to back away. "Show me you're not carrying any weapons before you get any closer."

Mary growled with a guilty look on her face. "I said I was sorry," she said as she touched the spot on his chest where she had stabbed him.

Kurt laughed and Mary smiled. "So, just how much did we make today?"

Kurt smiled along with Mary. "With the eggs, bread, and the money from the birth we should have enough to buy a few cows."

"Or a plane ticket for America."

Kurt's face filled with amazement. He slowly turned to his wife. "Mary?"

Mary sucked in a breath, ready to explain herself. "He is growing up, and being a meister he should-" she was cut off my Kurt pressing his lips to her's.

"Have I told you recently how much I love you?" Kurt asked as their lips parted for a moment.

"I believe this morning," she said softly.

Kurt laughed. "Far too long." As he brought his face back to her's a large amount of water came down from the sky.

Kurt and Mary looked up to see a cowgirl holding a water barrel looking down on them. "That was the cheesiest thing I have ever seen."

. -*-

Spirit broke out into a smile when he came to edge of the forest that surrounded the witch's tower. _Freedom_ was so close he could taste it. Smell it. Feel it.

As he stepped forward he felt chains around him.

_I trust you._

Spirit swore under his breath. He knew better than to trust people, and Mary knew that he didn't trust them. It showed in their daily life. How he would wait for one of them to take a bite before eating himself. How he managed to leave the room every time Mary picked up a knife. He didn't trust them.

_But they trusted him._

Spirit angrily pulled on his hair. He hated being him sometimes. He was so emotional, no matter how much he managed to hide it. He _liked _them. Mary and Kurt Stein were the parents he had always wanted, and Franken was so very like-

_Don't! Don't think about her! Oh, God please don't think about her!_

Spirit swallowed and lowered his shaking hands to his sides. He was suddenly cold. He _wanted_ to be held. He want someone to read stories to him, cook him homemade meals, make sure that he got a bath every day, he wanted someone to care about him enough to punish him when he did something wrong. He didn't want someone that would beat him, refuse to let him go to school in order to clean stuff that wasn't dirty, or lock him in the basement without food, or make him run around a track until he threw up, or made him run away from hunting dogs, so the dogs would get practice.

_He wanted to be loved._

_But no one would love him._

Tears threatened at the corner of his eyes. Anger ripped through Spirit like fire.

_No crying, no crying, no crying,_

He rolled up his sleeve and bit down on his arm. And again. And again. Until the message had been bit into his skin. His eyes no longer had tears in them, and he pulled his sleeve back down. It was all about instinct. Animals would avoid pain if they can, so if Spirit trained his body so that it knew every time it cried it would get bitten, he would stop crying because the body doesn't want to hurt.

Spirit kept his mind blank, but mutinous thought kept coming back. He thought about the school, a place that would help him become a better demon weapon, where he wouldn't be as big a freak. He thought the Steins, the kindness they have shown him.

_He could have a second chance._

Spirit let out a dry sob and turned on his heel, away from his freedom and deeper into the chains that would form out of trust, loyalty, and love.

. -*-

He was running again. This time it wasn't the bullies that followed him, but the Rake. It had found a way out of the church, and was hunting him.

Franken stopped when he saw a large flat rock blocking his path. He turned around quickly, only for the force of the Rake slashing across his shoulder to force him back around and into the rock. It stepped closer, leaving no room for Franken to escape.

Franken's electricity moved up and down his arm, which he used to hit the Rake in the side. It was blasted back a bit, but not enough for Franken to escape.

It lowered one of its long fingers to Franken's chin; bring his face to the Rake's. If the Rake could smile it would have been. It raised its other hand back, and as he brought it down it was caught by something behind the Rake, something Franken couldn't see.

But he could feel his soul. "Spirit?"

Spirit grinned, despite the situation. "Yep." If Spirit was going to say anything further it was caught off by the Rake hitting him with a back of its hand. It wanted Franken, not Spirit.

It turned back to Franken, but from where Spirit was laying he kicked the Rake, enough to put it off balance, leaving a space for Franken to get through.

Franken ran over to the demon scythe, who was standing up. "Can you change into the scythe?"

Spirit shrugged with a worried look on his face. "I have no clue how that happened the first time." He changed his arm from the elbow down into the black, slightly curved metal looking material.

The Rake slashed forward, only to be blocked by Spirit. Franken leapt forward and hit it in the abdomen with his electricity. It slid back a few feet, and Spirit stabbed it. The Rake aimed a large hand at Spirit, only for it to receive silver something in its forehead.

Spirit blinked as Franken stabbed the Rake. It took a few steps back and plucked the scalpel from its head. It roared at them, and aimed a slash at them.

And it would have happened, if a grey streak of metal hadn't stabbed the Rake through the middle.

"Malcolm!" Spirit gasped. Franken looked over his arm and saw the death scythe. Behind him were Victoria, Kurt and Mary.

"We need to kill this thing," Victoria frowned.

Mary shook her head. "Impossible."

"Then let's trap it again," Malcolm said as he lifted the struggling Rake off the ground.

"Also impossible. We would need a witch," Kurt grunted.

Malcolm looked at Victoria, who raised a too straight eyebrow at him. "What, do I look like I carry around a witch in my pocket?"

"I wouldn't be surprised."

Victoria gave him a look. They all turned to the boys, only to see one still there. Franken was turned to the woods, and Spirit was nowhere in sight.

Kurt started forward. "I'll go after him."

Franken watched his father pass by him. "_Vater?"_

Mary smiled after her husband. "Come _mein Sohn, _we're going to miss the feast."

. -*-

Spirit was running again. He let Franken get hurt. Oh God, they must hate him. The probably wanted to kill him. And he wouldn't blame them.

Self-hatred curled in his stomach, mixing with anger. Why did Franken come after him? If he hadn't stop the Rake in time then Franken would be dead.

"Spirit?"

He turned to see Kurt come out of the woods. He had a concerned look on his face. "Are alright?"

"K-Kurt? I-I'm sorry. I didn't mean-. F-Franken is he al-" he stopped when Kurt held up a hand.

"Are you alright?" he repeated.

Spirit looked confused. "Huh?"

Kurt walked over to the redhead and kneelt down to his height. "Are you alright?"

Spirit looked even more confused. Kurt sighed and picked up the redhead. He held Spirit, and carried him the same way Mary carried Franken. Spirit became very still as Kurt started to walk back to the village, but he didn't fight.

"How old are you?"

Spirit blinked slowly. "Fourteen."

Kurt shook his head in disgust. "What an Earth did they do to you to make you trust so few?"

Spirit started to shake, and Kurt held him even tighter. Spirit rested his head against Kurt's shoulder.

"Why did you come back?"

Spirit shrugged and looked away. Kurt sighed again and went on walking in silence.

. -*-

Spirit had no idea what he was eating, but he didn't really care. He would eat a haggis if he had too. He ate as though someone would suddenly take it from him.

Unlike Spirit, Franken was a slow eater, and seemed to spend more time separating the ingredients than eating.

Kurt and Spirit had arrived just in time for the feast, and Victoria and Malcolm weren't back yet, but no one really said anything.

After the feast all the children went into the center of town and sat while the grown up told stories. The first story was the one with the tooth fairies Spirit had read earlier, only the adult also told of how their ancestors started to have this festival to try and bring the tooth fairies back.

The stories got scarier and scarier, but Spirit couldn't tell, as they were all told in German. He just sat next to Franken, sipped some beer that he had stolen from some drunk old man (why does every party seem have one of those?) and pretended that he was able to listen. About half way through Franken decided to translate the stories for him.

Spirit started to take bigger sips of the beer. Close to the ending Mary gestured for him to come to her, which he managed to accomplish after stumbling a bit.

"What do you think of the stories?" Mary whispered. "Are they to freighting for you?"

Spirit's brow knitted together. "I've seen some pretty twisted stuff. I'm just not use to telling it to young kids. And these are some pretty scary stories, but then again my childhood is full of stories about babies falling from tall trees and dining wear eloping."

Spirit raised the beer to his lips, only for Mary to talk it away. Kurt chuckled behind her. Behind him the Sun was struggling to stay awake.

. -*-

Mary leaned on Kurt's shoulder. The Moon had woken up and it smiled sinisterly down on them.

"The festival went rather well this year, what do you think my love?"

Kurt chuckled. "I'm just glad we both agree on Franken traveling to America. Now what do you think of that, _Sohn?" _Kurt turned behind him and became very pale. He turned back to his wife. "Mary, you're going to freak out, but it's going to be okay."

Mary became very still and turned to look behind her. "Turn around."

"Ma-"

"Turn around now!"

Kurt sighed and made the horse turn the cart around.

. -*-

"_Vater? Mutter?" _Franken called out with his hand cupped around his mouth.

Spirit looked unbelieving into the distance. "They left without us?"

Behind the boys lightning cracked and rain began to poor.

Spirit through his arms up is frustration. "Great! Just great!"

Franken shook his head like a dog. "This doesn't seem very great to me.

Spirit looked like he was about to punch the smaller boy.

. -*-

Franken sat on his bed with Stiches on his lap. Sprit sat on the windowsill with a book in his lap. Both were in dry clothes, and (in Spirit's case) had almost dry hair.

"Spirit close the window! You'll catch you death!" Mary pulled Spirit off the windowsill and closed it. Behind the glass rain poured.

Spirit dog-eared the book and sat on the bed next to Franken. Mary told them a story every night, but she still hasn't finished the first story she told him.

She sat on the other end of the bed with a long face. "The second half of the story isn't very good."

Spirit smiled a smile that would charm a bear (if it was female of course). "I'm sure that you'll tell it wonderfully"

Mary sighed. "That's not what I mean. In order to tell you this chapter of the story I'm going to have to retell you something things from the first time I told you this."

Franken frowned. "You didn't tell the story right?" he accused, as though that was a capital offense, which to a ten year old it might have been.

Mary glared at him and Franken fell silent.

"First, all of the Alices got a bight of a Apple of Creations. The White Rabbit, a neutral party, picked an Apple from the Tree of Creations, and every Alice got an equal bit, the Yellow Alice Ananna and Quinntin both got a half a bight. The Alices created gates, the Red and Blue to get into Eden, and the Green and the Yellow to get out.

"Second, Life had a son and a daughter by Death. Amin took after his father and became the Blue Alice. Estrella took after her mother and stayed home, but she was loathed to do so.

Mary looked off.

"After the war ended no one needed the Alices anymore. War drove her Alice Blace and the bowsman Aerron insane after they refused to fight each other. They became separated; Blace was lost in the woods, while Aerron followed the river.

"Amin was at the river with his weapon partner, when an arrow went through his left temple. He survived, but he lost his Card, so he was no longer Alice. He and his scythe killed Aerron.

"Baba Yaga had built a green country that rose above them all during the war. She needed to leave Eden, but if she left the thrown her subjects would kill her. She poisoned her way out of her crown, but Phoenix Witch stopped her. After Baba Yaga tried to charm her way out of the sight of the Phoenix Witch Seranina put a spell on her. She was taken over by a distorted dream and couldn't leave her palace.

"Ananna and Quinntin tried to get out of Eden too, when they found a fork in the road. Quinntin noticed a bloody trail on the left path and told his older sister that they should go right. But Ananna was too stubborn. The twins got into an argument and it ended up with Ananna going left and Quinntin going right. As Ananna went down the right trail she was cornered by Blace and slaughtered.

"Quinntin heard his sister's screams and went running. He found his sister and the Red Alice, and quickly set up a trap using his knife and a sapling. He got Blace's attention, and she sprung the trap, and ended up with the knife in her stomach.

"Quinntin went over to his sister, but she was already dead. He took the knife from his sister's belt, the twin of the knife in Blace's torso, and took his own life.

"Blace lived, and was no longer insane. She felt incredibly guilty about killing the twins, and very sad at the loss of her lover, but no one believed her. How could a Hunter love?

"After years of peace Pestilence became tired of it, and tried to start the war again. The other three tried to stop him, but he stole the Tree of Creations. The girl and the others came up with a plan to stop Pestilence, and after careful planning they managed to get him inside a large vault, but just before the door closed Pestilence grabbed Estrella and pulled her in with him.

"They wanted to go after Estrella, but they couldn't risk letting Pestilence out. The girl created four keys, the Pendent, the Medallion, the Locket, and the Necklace, and gave the Pendent to Blace, the Medallion to Seranina, and the Necklace was buried with Ananna. The girl kept the Locket.

"Soon after Estrella became trapped Lord Death died, and Amin became the new Lord Death. Seranina and Amin became lovers, and she bore him a son.

"The girl then made a girl called the Starmaker, and gave the Locket to her. No one knew why the girl made her, and the girl never told. Life took Starmaker and made her her little sister, for she couldn't bear to call her daughter.

"Time past and things became peaceful again, but the girl thought it was boring. So she made the Legends, and the most powerful of the Legends, Slender Man.

"They tormented children of every race, and the girl, seeing what she had done, created good Legends to help protect the children. The most powerful of the good Legends was Saint Nickolas. After creating the Legends she created Father Time.

"Something happened after that, and no one knows what happened. The Yellow gate to Eden started to close, and the girl told them that if it closed all the way, because the Yellow Alice were dead, it wouldn't open again.

"Almost everyone, except a few humans and Blace, who refused to leave Aerron's grave, made a mad dash for the Gate, but Amin and Seranina forgot their son and had to go back. With the help of Blace, Amin and Seranina managed to get their son and Amin and Seranina dragged Blace out of Eden before the Gate closed.

"At the loss of her lover forever Blace fell onto her own sword, the piece of her soul that everyone defined her by, and died.

"Seranina blamed herself and Amin for Blace's suicide, and left him. Centuries later she bore three daughters, the Spider, the Snake, and the Scorpion. She was later killed by witch hunters.

"Amin raised his son by himself, and started to teach other meister and weapons to hunt kishins and witches. Soon he died, and his son took his place, and his son took his place, and so on and so forth.

"Life was destroyed by the deaths of her loved ones, and Starmaker took care of her, until she died.

"Life couldn't bear the death of Starmaker, so she took her soul and reincarnated Starmaker and made herself an new life, and would do so every time Starmaker died, so she would always have her little sister."

Mary walked over to the window and looked out of it, lost in thought.

"_Mutter, _why didn't Life reincarnate herself along with Starmaker?"

Mary smiled wistfully. "Because in order to be reincarnated you must die, and Life can't die."

Spirit shifted uncomfortably. "What would happen if Life did die?"

Mary looked them, but also looked past them. "Then nothing would be ever born again. Good night." She tucked them in and shut off the light.

"Mary! If the Hunters were cursed with death without death, why did they die?"

Mary looked back at them. "They Hunters could die, they just couldn't stay at peace. Sleep well." She left shutting off the light behind her.

. -*-

**How many chapters does it take to get out of Germany? -lame joke-. Thanks for reading so far!**

_**Holen Sie einen Arzt! - Get a doctor!**_

_**Herr- Mr.**_

_**Frau-Mrs.**_

_**Mutter- Mother**_

_**Liebling- Sweetheart. I didn't get this out of a German book, but out of a book called **__**Sisters Grimm. **__**The Grandmother is German and call the sisters this all the time.**_

_**Vater- Father. About time Franken showed Kurt some love (^^**_

_**mein Sohn- My son**_

**Well you read the second half of the origin story. What do you think? Please review! **

**Also I was thinking about writing a chapter where it's the opening off School Days, but in order to do that I need a song. I was thinking **_**Ballad of Mona Lisa **_**by Panic! at the Disco in their **_**Vices & Virtues**_** album. Please, if anyone else has any suggestions I would love to hear them. I want it to be more than three minutes long, also to be a bit rock and roll, but also spooky. Maybe I'll start a poll. Also if someone doesn't want me to post it here, because that chapter would pretty much be a song fic. **

** Abesgoldenfriend**


	7. Flying

**I don't own Soul Eater in anyway shape or form.**

**.-*-**

The next time Franken walked to Mrs. Wagner's house he wasn't alone. Spirit walked next to him, looking at everything around them. Mary had sent them for more black fabric, and Franken was carring a basket full of eggs, and no matter how many times Spirit asked Franken held them.

But this time, like the last, he was stopped by Wolfgang and his allies.

"Going back to the weird old lady's house," he sneered as he lowered himself to Franken's level.

Spirit growled. He haven't the slights idea what the boy said, but something to do with the way he made his face look suggested that he was insulting Franken.

So Spirit stepped in front of the smaller boy and glared at the other German boy. "Leave him alone."

Wolfgang raised a doubting eyebrow at Spirit, and looked around the redhead and looked at Franken. "American?"

Franken nodded.

Wolfgang smirked at Spirit, and was about to say something, but Spirit's fist stopped him.

Spirit pushed Wolfgang down on to the ground, and launched another into his face. Wolfgang's allies attempted to pull Spirit off of Wolfgang, but a few punches at their faces made them back off.

"American! Let him go!" A hand grabbed his wrist, and Spirit turned around to see Odette pulling his arm away. Spirit started to get up, but Wolfgang snarled something at Odette that made her face go pale and Franken gasp. Around them Wolfgang's lackeys started to laugh.

Spirit's fist broke Wolfgang's nose.

Spirit almost felt guilty for breaking Wolfgang's nose, but the thought of what he could have called the German girl made Spirit's blood run hot with rage. _Even so..._

Spirit rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "He might need to see a doctor."

Franken grabbed Spirit's sleeve and started to pull him away from Wolfgang, and no one stopped them.

Franken looked at Spirit, who was looking at the ground with an guilty expression. The smaller boy quirked his head, confused.

"So, why did we come this way in the first place?" Spirit asked as he stuffed his hands into his pockets.

"_Mutter _wants us to get more cloth, so she can make you some more clothes."

Spirit tripped over his own feet for a moment, but righted himself soon enough. "Are your parents always like this?"

"Like what?"

"You know." Spirit shrugged. "So nice."

Franken thought about it for a moment. "Not always. But they really like you."

Spirit looked down again, and the ghost of a smile came to his face.

.-*-

Modern cities and horse pulled wagons don't mix well, but somehow Kurt managed to make it work. Mary and Kurt sat in the front while Franken and Spirit sat in the back, both having carry-on bags and larger bags holding clothes. Franken was read a book about the insides of animals and how they worked and Spirit was watching other people watch them with curious expressions. He laughed, soon followed by Kurt.

Inside the airport Kurt bought Franken's ticket while Mary attempted to make Franken sit still, but finally she gave up and Franken ran around looking at stuff and going through peoples' luggage.

"Spirit, what about your ticket?" Kurt asked when he got back.

Spirit smiled. "Sara should be sending over someone with my credit card."

"Sara?"

"Sara McEdy. She's my social worker."

Kurt frowned and Mary crossed her arms. "We might need to talk with Ms. McEdy."

Spirit's expression became worried and he waved his hand out in front of him. "Please, don't. She does her best. Not many people are willing to take in a demon weapon."

Kurt sat down next to Mary. "Why?"

Spirit looked away. "Without being taught many demon weapons can't control themselves. Sometimes they hurt people without meaning too, and people don't like them for that."

Mary looked at Spirit with sympathy. Kurt looked around. "Where's Franken?"

All three of them looked around. "He's over on that moving package thing," Spirit said pointing. Mary let out a low moan and raced over to her son while Kurt laughed. "Does he do these sort of things a lot?"

Kurt nodded. "Franken has a deep curiosity, and when he gets his mind on something most of the time it's hard to get it out. May I ask you a question?"

Spirit looked surprised and suspicious, but he nodded.

"You said the Ms. McEdy would send someone over. Why doesn't she just come herself?"

Spirit looked slightly relieved as he answered. "She has a fear of flying. Most of the time you can't get her within twenty feet of an airport, let alone on a plane. I'm kinda glad that she's not coming, because I have caused her a lot of trouble by coming overseas. She would literally figuratively kill me."

Kurt nodded as he watched his wife carry his son back. Mary set Franken down on Kurt's lap and sat down beside them.

As Kurt put his arm around and Franken leaned into his father's chest Spirit realized that this could be the perfect family picture. Spirit smiled. A family where the son stole his father's medical books, the wife stabbing her husband, and the husband forgot the son at community events.

_Sounds like one of those stupid TV drama shows._

"Spirit!"

Spirit became very pale. "Oh my God, I'm going to literally figuratively die." He turned around slowly to see a woman with dark blonde hair and bright green eyes marching over to him. "Sara?"

"I'm going to kill you," she threatened as she got closer. Before Sara could get any closer to Spirit Kurt stepped in front of him and held out his hand.

"Kurt Stein. This is my wife Mary and my son Franken. We've been watching Spirit the last few days."

Sara nodded. "Yes, I've heard. Thank you. I hope he hasn't been too much trouble."

"He was no trouble at all."

She raised an eyebrow. "Really? Not many people say that."

"He hasn't been with the right people then," Kurt said with over honeyed words.

Sara looked down, guilt spread across her face. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a plane ticket. "I already bought you a ticket Spirit."

Spirit pouted for a moment before taking the ticket. "Don't trust me with my own money?"

"Not since you bought fifty waffle makers."

"They were on sale!"

"What would you even do with fifty waffle makers?"

"Make waffles."

Sara looked about ready to strangle Spirit when a voice over the P.A. system told the listens that a plane was boarding.

"That's us," Sara said while her face turned green.

"Really? I couldn't understand a word she said," Spirit squinted down at the ticket.

Mary sighed. "She's right."

They walked over to the door. Sara walked down the hallway shakily, with Spirit walking behind her, stopping to wait for Franken, who was trying to walk with them, but his parents wouldn't let him.

"Don't worry," Spirit said walking back over to the Steins. "I'll watch him."

They smiled at him and let go of Franken, before they both pulled Spirit and Franken into a hug. Spirit's face became a mix of wonder and confusion, while Franken just let his parents hug him.

As Franken and Spirit walked down hallway Spirit took the younger boy's hand and whispered into his ear. "Turn around and wave at your parents."

"Why?"

"Trust me."

Franken turned and waved at his parents, with Spirit following soon after. Franken didn't take his hand from Spirit's.

"Be good!" Kurt yelled after them.

"But not too good!" Mary yelled too. Kurt shook his head and rolled his eyes.

Franken turned and waved again without Spirit telling him too. "Good bye! I'll see you at Christmas!"

After much waving from over protective parents and a son that has never been away from his parents for more than a day and a half Spirit and Franken managed to get on the plane.

"Our sets aren't next to each other," Spirit said looking at their tickets. "I'll have to get someone to move or something."

Franken didn't say anything. He was too busy looking around the insides of the large metal bird they were in.

They went to where Franken's seat was, and after a few moments Spirit managed to convince the German man to trade seats with him.

While Franken was looking out the window Spirit managed to put the younger boy's seat belt on before turning to his own.

"What's this?" Franken asked pulling on the leather circling his torso.

"A seatbelt. So you don't go flying all over the place."

Franken looked closer at the seatbelt. "Why would we be flying all over the place? There is the law of gravity."

"How old are you?"

Franken didn't even blink at the sudden change of subject. "Ten."

Spirit froze for a moment and looked away. After a few moments he looked back at the small boy. "You've never been in a plane before?"

Another shake of the head. Spirit smiled, glad that the small boy had been given a window seat.

"Watch the window," Spirit said pointing. "It'll be a lot easier to see than explain."

Franken turned to watch the window as soon as the plane started to move forward. When it came of the ground Franken started to ask questions, many of which Spirit didn't know the answer.

After a half an hour Franken fell asleep, with Spirit feeling insanely jealous. Some people could fall asleep on planes, and Spirit was not one of them.

After five minutes he started to get hungry, and looked down at Franken's carry-on bag. He grabbed it and after searching he found the kishin egg's soul. He looked at it for a few moments, and then licked it slowly. It tasted like one of those overly surgery cherry jawbreakers that adults give out on Halloween.

He popped it into his mouth and started to chew it slowly. It was like chewing on a rubber egg; after you perced the outer chewy part the inside was a little softer, like marshmallow. It was very strange feeling, and Spirit wasn't sure that he liked it. After a few moments he took it out of his mouth and started to tear it apart with his teeth, but after receiving a weird look from a mother he changed his arm into its weapon form and started to cut it up and swallow the smaller pieces whole. The mom gave him an even stranger look.

Spirit sighed through his nose and went back to looking out the window. He briefly noticed that he was full. That seemed to be happening a lot lately.

He started to hum to himself slowly, but quickly picking up speed. After a few moments he was rocking out, banging his head while he hummed and making air gestures and drumming motions, which most people ignored.

After a few minutes he got bored and settled with flirting with one of the attendants until something hit him in the side of his head. Picking it off the ground he saw that it was a book (the attendant used this opportunity to escape the redhead). It was green with gold letters. _The Hobbit._

Spirit turned and saw Sara looking at him. She drug her thumb across her neck and then barfed in a small bag.

Spirit shook his head and started to read his favorite book of all time.

.-*-

Franken put his seatbelt on while Spirit tried to tell him about the horseless carriage. He was sitting in the front with Sara. The moment Spirit saw the automobile he raced to it and pulled out a small box of small rectangles and put one of them into a slot in front of him.

Very loud and fast music came out, to which Spirit started to sing. Sara turned it down with a small glare towards Spirit. "So, any idea where this place is?"

Spirit looked at the road map in his hands. "There's only one road in and out. And it's in the middle of Death Valley."

Sara nodded a bit and started to drive another way. Behind them Franken started to sleep again.

"That looks rather nice. Maybe you should drive for a while," she said nodding at Franken.

"I'm fourteen."

"You can drive a car, and you've been able to since you were twelve."

"You're already in enough trouble. You shouldn't let me drive. By the way, we're going the wrong way."

Sara sighed and did a U-turn. Spirit grabbed a handle above the door and Franken woke up. Sara flashed the middle finger to a few people who were honking at them. "Crazy drivers," she muttered.

Spirit started laughing, with Franken giggling creepily in the back seat.

.-*-

"We're here," Sara sighed as she saw the city, which was like an island in the middle of the sand.

"Thank god," Spirit muttered.

Sara glared at him and looked back at the city. "Freaky..."

Franken's head appeared between the two seats. He looked at the strange city, trying to take in as much of it as he could. "Strange..."

Spirit smiled. Another thing that was happing a lot. "It's great."

The other two looked at him.

.-*-

"God, no parking," Sara muttered. Beside her Spirit snickered, and she felt like hitting him.

After they finally found a spot the set off towards the school, leaving the luggage in the car. When they got inside the grand school they saw a sigh that said "_First Years Here_". There they met a woman who gave them each a piece of paper, and told them when they were done they would give them back to her.

"Hey! This school has pseudonyms."

Sara looked over Spirit's shoulder with a frown. "What's a pseudonym?"

"It's where the school lets the students legally."

"I thought you like your name."

"I do. I just hate my middle and last name. Maybe I can change it."

Sara turned to Franken. "What about you? Franken Stein is a pretty horrible name."

"I like Franken Stein. Maybe I'll drop my middle name, though."

"What's your middle name?"

"Mart."

Spirit covered his snort with two hands, but Sara didn't try to cover her laughter. "Mart?"

"It's Mary and Kurt mixed together."

Sara was still laughing as Spirit and Franken finished their paperwork. As they gave the papers back to the lady she pointed to a door.

"You'll need a physical examination, then you'll have your pictures taken. After that you'll be shown around the school."

"Physical exam," Spirit whispered hurriedly. His eyes were wide and he was pale.

Sara put her hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry. It'll be alright." She looked away and bit her lip.

When they got to the dispensary Spirit's hands were shaking. "Spirit, calm down," Sara whispered into his ear.

Spirit nodded, but it came out a jerky motion. Franken watched Spirit struggle to stop shaking when his name was called. He walked into the dispensary and sat down.

The nurse came in and stared at him. It was the demon staff who had come to Germany. His hair was copper and his eyes were light purple. He spoke with a stutter.

"I-I-I'll need you t-t-to t-t-take o-off your c-clothes."

Franken stripped down to his underwear and watched the stutterer with careful eyes. After testing everything from his joints to his eyes he told him to dress again and sent him out.

Spirit started shaking harder when Franken came out. He tried to stand up, but his legs were shaking to much. Terror clutched his heart in a vice. He couldn't breathe.

"S-S-Spirit?"

"Spirit has an anxiety disorder. It might not be safe, seeing as he's new at the whole demon weapon thing."

The nurse thought about it for a few moments, than nodded. Sara turned away from the dispensary, pulling Spirit behind her. Franken followed them, smiling as he tucked a syringe into his pocket.

.-*-

When they got to the lunch room it was filled with new students. Girls messed with their make-up and hair while guys pushed and shoved trying to stand next to the prettiest girls.

Spirit smiled when he heard flimsy and cliché pick-up lines. "Amateurs," he muttered.

Sara smiled at him. "Why don't you show them how the master does it?"

"This isn't even my first day of school. I don't need people hating me already."

"Sure."

Spirit rolled his eyes and looked away, then looked around quickly. "Where'd Franken go?"

Sara looked around and swore.

"You lost one too?"

They both turned around to see a man with two twin girls next to him. "I've lost my middle oldest," he said smiling.

Sara raised an eyebrow. "Then why aren't you looking for her?"

"Marie gets lost all the time. I'm Mark Mjölnir, and these are my daughters Margaret, the oldest of my set of triplets, and Melissa, my youngest." All three had brown hair and brown eyes, and it was easy to see why they were related. Margaret held a twelve inch doll with red hair and a purple dress in her hands, while Melissa held a blonde with two braids that came back up to her head in loops.

"Mjölnir, huh? That's quite a last name."

Mark nodded happily. "I here that a lot. By the way, was that redhead kid your son?"

"No, I'm his social worker. His parents died four years ago, when he was about ten."

Mark's face instantly became sad. "What a coincidence. My wife passed away two years ago, when my daughters were ten."

Sara blinked. "I am so sorry. I didn't-"

"It's quite alright."

There was an awkward silence when Sara turned to where Spirit should have been. "Spirit, why don't-. Where the hell did he go?"

"Do you really think that it's appropriate to swear around all these children?"

Sara just looked at him.

.-*-

Outside a girl with blonde hair started to cry as it began to rain. "I'm lost again. But I shouldn't worry, Daddy will find me." Overhead lighting flashed.

"Hey, you okay?"

Marie turned around to see a boy not much older than her come up behind her. He looked around for a moment before ripping off his shirt and placing it on her shoulders. "You a first year?"

She nodded, to amazed to talk.

He opened his blue eyes for a moment, looking at her chest, and then closed them again. "Here, I'll show you to the school." He started to walk away.

Marie ran up behind him. "My name's Marie. What's yours?"

"Joe Buttataki. Second year, under Vick's supervision."

"'Vick'?"

"Victoria Cornwell. You see the teachers that teach the EAT class pick certain students to be in their group, and when a student says that their under a certain teachers supervishion it's that teacher that puts up with that student, decides whether or not they should go on certain missions, and their training and stuff like that. Vick only had a small group of students."

"Why?"

"She only picks the people she deems as special, and she has high standers when it comes to the students. She only picked two out of my year."

"What about this year?

Joe shrugged. "We'll find out tomorrow."

Suddenly right in front of him a boy wearing white knee length short and a long sleeve shirt, both with stiches landed, as though someone had thrown him. An empty syringe was in his hand.

Marie raced over to him. "Are you alright?"

He looked around for a moment then settled on Marie. "Are you missing your eye? Can I see your socket?" He reached for her face while smiling.

"Franken!"

A redhead picked up the little boy and put him over his shoulder. "Sorry about that."

Spirit looked at the blonde girl. She had an eye patch on her left, with the same lightning bolt and circle on the front of her black turtle neck sweater. She had a yellow A-line skirt with a black diagonal zig-zag that went across her skirt. Her tights were black and yellow horizontal zig-zag pattern. Her shoes were black flats with black ribbon bows on them.

"What's wrong with him?" she asked innocently.

"Franken's special," Spirit said a bit forcefully. "I've been looking forever for you. Where have you been?"

"I found a big kitty," he snickered.

"Big kitty?"

There was a growling behind them. A very large black cat or a small black panther looked at them. Well it looked like a black panther, but poofier. Either way the cat looked like it could swallow Franken whole.

"Franken, what did you do?"

He just smiled.

"Persephone!"

A girl appeared behind the large cat. She had a black Mohawk with acid green ends. Her make-up was all black, and her eyeliner had a Egyptian look to it. Her pants were black leather, as was her jacket. She was wearing a belt that looked like it was made of barbed wire. The same barbed wire was imbedded into the right arm of her jacket. There were many different types of cameras around her neck, everything from digital to underwater. Her grey cat like eyes became brighter when she spotted Spirit.

"Why, if it isn't Freckles. He your charge?" she asked nodding at Franken.

"He's my meister. And I don't have freckles."

She smiled. "Yes you do. I didn't know you were a demon weapon."

"And I didn't know you would be here. This doesn't seemed to be your thing, Raven Tail."

"I had a choice: back to my parents' house, juvenile hall, or coming here. Not much of a choice, but I chose the lesser of three evils. And my names Hecate now."

"Well, that suits you."

"Doesn't it?"

Joe came up behind them. "You two know each other?"

"Yep. Me and Freckles go way back."

"And how old are you?"

"Twelve."

Joe, Marie, and Franken all looked surprised. Hecate looked older. "So you're a first year?"

"Yep, and now if you excuse me I have to talk to Shorta about trying to drug my familiar." she grabbed Spirit's shoulder and spun him around so she could look Franken in the face. "You try to drug my cat again I'll let her eat you, you got me Shorta?"

"My name's Franken."

Spirit rolled his eyes. "Hecate likes to nickname people."

"Oh. Okay."

Hecate walked towards the school. "Well, we first years have pictures to be taken. Let's go! I hate wearing all this make-up."

.-*-

**Okay, originally this was going to be longer, but I decided to cut the chapter in half.**

**Let me talk a bit about Hecate. She's going to be one of those characters who I love to write because she just so... fun. She's one of those people who you don't know which side she's on. She is the documenter of the group, and she is always taking pictures and gathering information, but she only gives information to those who ask.**

**Anyway, please tell me how you like this chapter, favorite and least favorite part, and please review and comment. And any song ideas for the title sequence thing?**

**Abesgoldenfriend**


	8. New Beginnings

**I don't own Soul Eater. Please review and all that.**

.-*-.

Joe walked onto the balcony with his hands in his pockets.

"You're back," a voice to his left said.

Joe nodded, but kept looking at the figure before him. The figure's back was turned. The three were silent for a moment.

"So, you've met them," the voice to Joe's left said as she pulled her dreadlocks into a ponytail.

Joe shook his head. "Only a few. Franken Stein, Spirit, Marie Mjölnir, and Hecate. And it seems that Spirit and Hecate new each other. He called her 'Raven Tail'."

"Oh, God. Where have I heard that before?" the girl tightened her ponytail.

"How many are there total?" the boy turned to the girl. Joe took a few steps closer to the pair as the girl look at a list on her lap.

"Nine. The oldest is Spirit, then Kami Graves, Hecate, Peggy Roland, Arthur Penbrooke, Marie Mjölnir, Cécile Bertin, Azusa Yumi, and the youngest is Franken Stein."

"Why'd you take the time to put them in oldest to youngest?" Joe asked as the boy took the list.

"That's the way Vick had them organized. And I hope you're happy with them. I had to use my best stink bomb to lure her away. You would not believe what she keeps in her file cabinets. I'm surprised that she even smelled the stink bomb over the garbage."

"Four meisters, five weapons. It looks like you're getting a weapon this year, Bj," the boy said handing the list to Joe.

"About time," the girl muttered. "It sucks that Vick's kids can't have a partner from any of the other teachers kids."

"What? Don't like having me as a partner?" the boy said as he walked back to the edge of the balcony.

"Your fine, but there was a lack of choice. Not that I really got one. Mole-striking Joe or you. And I'm not going choose the one that's the teachers' pet."

"I'm not a teacher's pet," Joe argued. The girl opened her mouth to argue back but she was cut off by the older boy.

"Enough you two. We're going to show the new additions to our team the same courtesy that we were shown. After all, that's the kind of boy I am."

The girl snickered. "This is going to be fun. I hope that this year someone doesn't die."

"You really need to see the counselor about your pyromania," Joe commented dryly.

"I'm not a pyromaniac!"

"And I'm not a teachers' pet!"

The boy groaned and dropped his forehead onto the railing.

.-*-.

Spirit stood next to Franken and Marie in line while Marie's dad and Sara talked to each other. Marie's sisters stood next to their father. Hecate stood in front of Spirit in line.

"So, wait. Let me get this straight. Your one of three triplets, and your sisters are identical twins, and you're their fraternal twin?" Spirit pieced together with two raised eyebrows.

"Uh. Margaret is older than me and Melissa is younger than me." Marie hugged a large doll with brown hair with bangs and a plaid dress to her.

"I have a younger sister," Hecate commented dryly.

"You do?" Spirit asked the girl he's known for two years.

"Yep. Her name's Matilda. I hate her so God damned much. She can rot in Hell, but I think it's more probable that she'll burn than rot."

"Why do hate her so much?" Sara asked, nosey as ever.

Hecate turned around. "I may not look it, but I'm a very good student, dyslexia aside, but that's not my fault. Matilda use to take my notes, copy them, and sell the copies. One day I get feed up with it, get my notes wrong, and everyone that studied off of them failed the biggest test of the year, my little sister included. So she hates me, I hate her, parents blame me, I run away, end up working for this gang that got money selling people's information, get some _awesome_ tattoos, went back home, and here I am."

"And that's your life story?"

Hecate scratched the bald part of the right side of her head. "Well, I did have this run in with a haunted house just before I turned ten, and I got this," she pulled out a long black ribbon with a large penguin ornament on it. "but that's another story."

Mark looked closer at the penguin. "What is it?"

Hecate pulled the penguin's body away from its head and reviled a jump drive. "It's a jump drive."

"What does that have to do with a haunted house?" he asked reaching out his hand.

Hecate pulled back the jump drive back and waggled her finger at Mark. "It'll cost you about two thousand dollars to find out."

Mark raised his hands in defeat and they fell silent.

"Look, I'll I'm sayin' is that the school should be a bit more selective about who they let in."

They turned to see a girl in front of them in a conversation with a Mexican girl, an Indian boy and an English boy.

"What do you mean by that?" Hecate asked, ever ready to start a fight.

The girl turned to Hecate. She had short curly strawberry blonde hair and blue eyes. She looked Hecate up and down with a sneer on her face. "I'm just sayin' that some folk shouldn't be let in. Nosy goths for one."

"Oh, and I guess we should let in all the rednecks in then?" Spirit said coming to Hecate's defense.

The girl laughed a bit. "With that hair your necks probably redder than mine. How strange seeing a redhead here. I always heard that redhead got no soul."

Both Hecate and Spirit stepped forward, ready to pumble the girl, but a voice from behind stopped them.

"How can you say that?" Marie almost yelled. "How can you think any person be less than yourself simply because they're different?"

The girl smirked. "Look, I think I made this one cry."

There was a yell from Marie, and fist flying forward, and the girl was launched several feet away.

Hecate turned to Marie. "Just what kind of demon weapon are you again?"

Marie blushed.

The girl marched back over to them. "How dare you you little-"

"Peggy," the English boy warned.

Peggy stopped short and pouted. The English boy looked around. "While I think that it's stupid to limit the students on race, perhaps there should be another limit, say on intelligence level."

"And just how will you measure intelligence?" the Indian boy asked. "All of our countries had different styles, and the DWMA is an international school."

"The school is part in the United States," Peggy argued.

"Not really. The whole Death Valley dessert belongs to Lord Death, and is its own territory, so that no single country can say it belongs to them," Franken said not looking up from the book he was reading. They looked at the boy, who was easily the smallest one there.

"Who are you?" Peggy asked with slight disgust.

"He's my meister, Franken Stein," Spirit said with a threating nature.

Peggy's disgust turned to disbelief. "This little shrimp goes to the school?"

Franken smiled at her. "I wonder if your insides are as mean as your outsides."

"You might want to back up," Spirit warned. "He's not joking."

Peggy did back up, but she did so with a sneer on her face.

"Anyway, the government made a deal with Lord Death. If he taught the students all the normal classes along with the others he could have the land, which is why some students take classes at the local public schools."

Sara looked at the small boy. "And how did you know that?"

Franken raised a book about the DWMA.

"Where'd you get that?"

He opened the book again. "Found it."

Spirit rolled his eyes and smiled.

.-*-.

"I just think that it's stupid that they make their women dress like that," Genevive said, talking about one of the students she manages, an Islamic girl. "It's just so damn oppressive."

Carrie and Andrew nodded, one because they agreed and one because they went alone with whatever Genevive said. Malcolm rolled his eyes, used to the feminist rants, and Barnaby was too busy staring at Genevive's breasts to care.

"Nun."

The five of them looked at Victoria, who was pulling two cups that the school provided out of the teacher's lounge cabinets.

Genevive raised an eyebrow, surprised that anyone would talk back to her. "Excuse me?"

"That's how they express their faith. Like nuns. And in some countries the headscarf is illegal to wear in public places." Victoria poured herself a cup of coffee, black, just the way she like it. In the other cup she poured chocolate coffee creamer.

"How do you know this?" Genevive asked.

"History Chanel."

Malcolm hid his grin behind his hand, but everyone else was looking at Victoria strangely, except Barnaby, who was imagining Carrie and Genevive making out naked.

Victoria brought her two cups over to the table. "So anyone else got strange students?"

"Demon cannon. Beat that," Barnaby said throwing down his hand.

"Demon lamp," Carrie said with a triumphant smirk at Barnaby.

Malcolm looked confused. "Lamp, like-" he point to one of the lights in the room.

"Nope. Like in _Aladdin._"

Genevive smiled. "Demon mirror-"

"That's not to exciting," Carrie argrued.

"-with a monkey as a meister."

Victoira choked on her coffee creamer. "Say that again?"

Genevive leaned forward. "Monkey. I'm not joshing."

Barnaby swore and Victoria gagged. "I'm not going to have to teach the monkey, am I?"

Genevive shrugged. Victoria groaned. "I'm not any good with children, and now I have to teach a _monkey_!"

Genevive sipped her tea, which was low fat. "If you don't like children why don't you quit?"

"First of all I said that I wasn't any good with children, not that I hated them."

"Same difference. And the other reason."

Victoria shrugged. "I'm a weapon-less meister. Not much I can do on the battle field."

They all exchanged looks. They all knew when the subject of the conversation was even close to being about Daniel it was time to change it. No one dared to talk about Daniel when Victoria was around.

"Viki, you need to move on. Danny's gone and he isn't coming back. It's really quite pathetic that you hold on to him like this."

Four sets of eyes turned in horror to stare at Genevive. She just sipped her tea.

Victoria gave a fake sigh. "Maybe your right Jenny."

Everyone there knew the sigh was fake, except Genevive who smiled with pride. Victoria grabbed the color of Genevive's dress and threw her out the window. Now four sets of eyes turned to Victoria in horror as she finished her coffee.

She met their eyes. "She deserved that."

Malcolm started to laugh, and he didn't stop until Andrew tried to choke him.

.-*-.

"So how does the camera work?" Franken asked, trying for at least the fith time to get information out of people.

"I don't know. You click a button and the picture forms," Spirit said esaxperated.

"What about you? You have a lot of cameras," Franken said turning to Hecate.

Hecate ran her fingers over her multitude of cameras. "Sorry Shorta. No idea."

Franken frowned and crossed his arms.

"We can talk about this later. We have a tour to get," Sara said as she pushed the group forward towards a girl who was calling the first years to her.

"Hello. My name's Holiday Fire. Demon Flamethrower and I'm a fifth year under Carrie. Welcome to your first year at Death Weapon Meister Academy. Today I'll be showing you around the Death City," the girl with fiery orange hair said. She walked towards the stairs, and they followed.

"The main reason the city was built by the Grim Reaper was so that young weapons and meisters can maximize their potential. On the first day of school you will be given badges with either meister or weapon on them and you will find your partner. All except Victoria's of course."

"Why not Victoria's?" the English boy from before asked.

Holiday waved her hand and made a face. "All of Vick's kids are special, and they get sent on special missions, so the rest of the students in the EAT class don't really compare to them. Moving on."

She walked forward and stopped at what seemed to be metal bars imbedded in the road. What looked like a smaller version of a train car stopped in front of her. "This is the trolley. It is the most efficient way to get around Death City. And students ride free, so just show them your student Id and you'll be zippen. Come on," and she walked into the trolley with them to follow.

After they all got packed in Holiday knocked on the window separating the passengers and the driver. "Secondary boys dorms, please."

It was as though someone had lit a rocket in the back of the trolley. People in the seats lining either wall were squashed into each other with the force of the G-force and the people standing and holding on to the leather handles that extended from the ceiling were flung into each other.

Hecate landed in Spirit's lap, Spirit's face ended up in Peggy's bust and Franken somehow ended up on all three of them, which was strange concerting that Franken was sitting next to Spirit. Persephone, who was sitting on the floor, slid all the way to the end of the trolley, and started to growl, scarring people next to the very large cat... or the kind of small poofy panther. No one had really decided yet.

Threw out the whole thing Holiday barely swayed. When they reached their destination everyone scrambled out with Holiday being last.

"This is the secondary boys dorms. The girls and the boys dorms are on separate sides of the city. The dorms are divided into two groups: the primary and the secondary. The primary holds fourth and fifth years, and the secondary holds first, second, and third years. the dorms are run by the five eldest students in the dorms. Boys and girls are allowed in the opposite genders' dorms, but only from four to six on school night and from eleven to three on weekends. In the dorms you will be separated into your classes: demon weapon and meister. Meisters only bunk with meisters and vice versa. There are two people per room. I would show you around, but seeing as were in mixed company at the moment it wouldn't be appropriate. Let's just say that the DWMA is known for its taste in furnishings. Now let's go back to the school."

With a unified groan they all boarded the trolley again.

.-*-.

Victoria growled as she nearly knocked her file cabinets over. Her list of her new students was gone, and she knew who took them.

_Goddamnit. I knew that stink bomb was a distraction._

Victoria went back to her desk and looked over the files of her new students. At the moment she didn't feel like reading, so she would just take them home, which was against the rules, but everybody else was doing it.

The door opened and Malcolm came in, still laughing his ass off, holding a brown paper bag.

Victoria rolled her eyes. Malcolm was the most informal person she had ever met. His bone necklace (which she still wasn't sure were animal bones) rested on top of a black shirt with a yellow _Batman _logo on it. He was also wearing jean shorts and leather sandals.

"How's Jenny?"

"Mighty mad, but she'll live."

Victoria made a small noise and fell silent. Malcolm cleared his throat. "At the risk of being thrown out a window she does have a point Vick."

"She called me 'Viki'."

Malcolm raised an eyebrow. Victoria turned to him. "Jenny usually calls me 'Tori'. Daniel was the only person who calls me 'Viki'."

There was silence for at least five minutes, and then Victoria turned to Malcolm. "Did you get what I asked?"

He held out the bag to her, glad that the conversation was resumed. "I didn't know that they made one pound chocolate bars."

Smiling Victoria pulled three one pound chocolate bars and a gallon of chocolate milk. "I owe you big."

Malcolm laughed lightly and left, leaving Victoria alone with her chocolate.

.-*-.

After the tour was done Holiday handed out vanilla folders with their names on them. Inside was their dorm numbers, what classes they would be in, whether they would be a EAT or a NOT, and who their teachers would be. It also said that they would be getting their student ids on the first day of school.

Spirit looked down at his vanilla folder with worry. If he was an EAT and Franken wasn't then they couldn't be partners. Wait, who was he kidding. Franken was probably one of the few kids who had already killed a kishin egg. What if he ended up in the NOT class?

Sara looked at him with raised eyebrow. "Are you going to read it or just stare at it?"

They were walking back to the car. Sara was going to drive them to the secondary boys' dorms, then leave. Marie had left with her father and sisters and Hecate took off in the middle of the tour with Persephone.

When they got to the car Spirit still hadn't opened his. Franken had already read his over and was watching Spirit. As they got in Franken snatched Spirit's folder and read it.

"Well?" Sara asked.

"We have all our classes together except for the normal classes. We're both EAT under Victoria Cornwell's supervision."

Spirit let out a sigh of relief, and Sara shook her head. Spirit took his papers back from Franken. "I'm in dorm 21W."

"I'm in dorm 87M."

Sara laughed. "W for weapon, M for meister."

When they got to the dorm Sara help Franken and Spirit unload their bag, along with two trash bags that she handed to Spirit. When they were done Sara was looking at the ground, shifting her weight from one foot to the other. "Spirit?"

Spirit turned to Sara McEdy. "What is it?"

Sara opened her mouth, then closed it, then opened it again. She grabbed one of Spirit shoulders in a confirming way, but Spirit knew that it was Sara's way of giving a hug. "Be good. And don't die."

Spirit smiled. "I'll do my best."

Sara nodded hurriedly. She took something wrapped in brown paper and thrust it into Spirit's face. Spirit took it. Sara got in her car and drove off before he could say thank you.

As they entered the dorms they both gasped. Holiday wasn't kidding. The room was large and grand, with a large staircase directly in front of them. They could see layers upon layers of floors. To their left and right were doors also.

"You two first years?"

Franken and Spirit turned to see a dark skinned boy a few years older than them walking towards them. They both nodded.

"On the ground floor is the dining room to your left, common room to your right, and the kitchens, which is attached to the dining room. Breakfast and Dinner will be provided on week days, but all else you'll have to get yourself.

"The other floors are made of the dorms and bathrooms. There are twenty dorms per floor, and ten bathrooms. That means one bathroom for every four students. If your bathrooms are full you're not allowed to go use other floors bathrooms. On the doors of the dorms there are the two names of the occupants and the dorm number. Any questions?"

"Who are you?" Spirit asked while Franken gazed wide-eyed around the room.

"Huh? Oh, yeah. Sorry. Name's Sid Barett, under Victoria. Third year."

"I'm Spirit and this is my meister Franken Stein," he said indicating to him and the smaller boy, who was now studying how high up the ceiling was.

Sid crossed his arms. "I've heard about you two. All ready killed a kishin egg. A lot of people have high hopes for you." He turned and looked at Franken, who was the size of the average first grader. "Others not so much. Wake ups at six o'clock, breakfast is at six forty, school starts at seven. Dinner's at six." Sid started to walk towards the common room.

Franken and Spirit started up the grand staircase, when Sid called up to them.

"Franken. Spirit."

They both turned to him. He smiled wolfishly. "Welcome to Death Weapon Meister Academy." And with that pleasant comment he walked away.

Spirit picked up his bag of clothes that he got from the Steins and his two garbage bags. "Let's drop off my stuff first, and then we'll go to yours."

Franken followed Spirit up the stairs to the first floor, then to the back of the building where the rest of the stairs were.

When they got to Spirit's room Franken opened the door. As they stepped it to the room they both looked around. The room had double of everything, except for a large flat screen TV. The two beds were four poster with carpet-like drapes. In between the two beds were two bedside tables. In the corners of the room were desks with chairs, and next to them were wardrobes. The TV was in the middle of the opposite wall with DVD and VCR on the shelves beneath them with floor to ceiling bookshelves on either side. On the wall opposite the door was a window that jutted out of the wall with a window seat.

Spirit set his stuff down on the bed closest to the window. He turned to Franken to see him examining the TV.

"Have you ever even seen a TV before?" he asked as pulled some of his old clothes out of one of the two trash bags that held most of his belongings.

"I lived in America for two years. During that time I had a television. But when my family moved back to Germany I didn't get another one."

"That explains why you don't have a German accent."

"I can have one. I've just lived in the United States long enough to have both a German and American, depending on what I'm speaking."

Spirit nodded, literally throwing his clothes into the wardrobe. Opening up the second bag he pulled out books upon books. Most were ratty looking and had broken spines, but he put every single one, no matter how destroyed they were. Franken picked up a green hardcover book. Flipping it open he was names written down the inside cover. Before Franken could examine the names any closer Spirit snatched it out of his hand and put it on the top shelf, well out of Franken's reach.

"It's rude to snatch things out of people's hands," Franken said as he climbed onto Spirit's bed.

"And it's not nice to go through people's stuff," Spirit smirked as he pulled more books out of the one garbage bag.

"Why do you have so many books?" Franken asked as he grabbed an icy blue one.

"I like books."

The door opened and a boy wearing dark square glasses and Sid came threw. The boy was had short brown hair that seemed messy. He was wearing a simple t-shirt with jeans.

"Thank you for the help Sid," the boy said tapping the long stick he was holding onto the floor. Sid set down a few bags on the bed and turned towards the boys.

"Spirit, Franken, this is Arthur Penbrooke. He's your roommate," he said to Spirit.

Spirit gave a bit of a nod and reached out a hand to the brunette. "Spirit. From Nevada. This is my meister, Franken Stein from Germany."

Arthur tilted his head and held out his hand to touch Spirit's face. "You have long hair. Oh, and I'm from England," he added as an afterthought. Franken got off the bed and walked over to Arthur, who turned when he heard Franken's footsteps. He put his hands to where he thought Franken was, then lowered his arms, lowered them again, and again. "Well, aren't you short?"

"I get that a lot," Franken shrugged.

Arthur sat down on the bed. "I hope you don't mind the touchy-feely thing. Mother says that most people don't like it, but I can't help myself."

"I don't really mind," Spirit shrugged as Franken pulled himself back up onto the bed.

Arthur nodded happily. "Well, that's good. I do have a tendency to do it." He went over to his bed and started to unpack his clothes.

Sid cleared his throat. "Do you need help?"

"Not at the moment. But I'll holler if I do."

There was an uncomfortable silence, and Spirit touched Franken's shoulder. "Let's go get you settled in." Franken grabbed his bag and they were both gone.

.-*-.

Marie walked away from her father with tears in her eyes. He and her sisters said their good-byes and now Marie was struggling to get her stuff up to her room.

"Hey, Pulverizer. Need some help?"

Marie turned to see Hecate walking towards her. The gray-eyed girl grabbed some of the stuff off of the top of the pile and started to walk up the grand staircase.

"Thank you," Marie smiled as she walked after her.

"No prob. Where is your room?"

"Upstairs."

"Well, that's better than being down stairs," Hecate commented dryly.

As they walked up the stairs they passed a French girl wearing clashing rainbow clothes talking to a Swedish girl with electric orange wild curls. A Korean girl brushed past them talking with an British girl with long blonde hair. They pointed at Hecate as she and Marie passed them.

"That's so mean," Marie almost growled at their backs.

Hecate shrugged, still smiling. "I'm so used to it by now I don't even notice anymore. Besides I'm so happy right now I couldn't care less."

"Why?" Marie asked they approached her dorm.

Hecate pushed open with door with her foot and dumped the stuff on the floor. "I'm rooming with a steampunker!"

"Steampunk- Oh my God! It's a princess bed! I've always wanted a princess bed!" Marie started to jump up and down as she collapsed on the bed closest to the window. After a few more moments she turned to Hecate. "What's a steampunk?"

Hecate was looking over the names on the door. "It's a style of clothing, like goth, punk, and sporty and stuff like that. It's my understanding that the stile is based after the Victorian era of England with a mix of 1920s and modern stuff, but I'm not sure. They follow a stile with browns and golds, stuff like that. I've always thought that it was pretty, but no way I can pull that off. Along with being a steampunker she's also a big monster nerd. She was born in Japan, but was adopted by a Christian couple in New Hampshire. Her name's Kami Graves and speaking of roommates yours is named Azusa Yumi. And here she comes."

Marie lifted her head to see a small Japanese girl step around Hecate. She was wearing black dress pants with a white with gray pinstripes that had puffy sleeves, and over that she was wearing a black sweater vest. Her shoes were black Mary Janes. Her hair was black that absorbed the light around it, cut into high bangs with two chin length strips on either side. The rest was in layered pigtails on the side of her head. She played with her rectangular glasses revealing dark blue eyes.

"As this one has already stated I'm Yumi Azusa," she turned towards Hecate. "Shouldn't you be in your room getting ready?"

Hecate raised her hands in defeat and walked out of the room and closed the door behind her. Let Marie deal with the hard-ass.

As she walked towards her room she knocked into a dark skinned girl wearing a mummy hoodie.

"I'm sorry. I should really be watching wear I'm going."

The girl shrugged. "No problem." She lowered her hood reviling light blue eyes and black dreadlocks. "You're Hecate right?"

Hecate stared intensely at the girl's hair. "Heck-ah-tee."

"Huh?"

Grey eyes met ice blue. "My names pronounced 'Heck-ah-tee'. But no big deal. A lot of people pronounce it 'Heck-ate'. What's your name?"

"I'm Mira Nygus. Second year under Victoria." She reached out her hand towards Hecate, who took it.

"I heard that Victoria's kids were the elite, which is why a lot of people in the school hate you."

Mira shrugged. "At least you're shaking my hand. There was this girl earlier who refused to. She looked like I offered her a dead animal."

"Why?" Hecate asked as they walked down the hall.

"Because I'm black."

Hecate let out a low breath of air. "Her name wouldn't happen to be 'Peggy', would it?"

"Right on the nose."

"What a bitch."

"You said it."

"Please tell me you gave her a black eye."

Mira gave a small laugh. "Let's just say that miss southern bell isn't going to be looking fine on her first day of school."

They both walked off laughing.

.-*-.

**Well, this is chapter eight. I have all of my main characters in this one (except Lord Death). The only one that hasn't been introduced by name is Cécile Bertin, but she is in this chapter. See if you can find her. Speaking of finding there is a Disney princess that's in this chapter. I'm a big fan of characters from other things showing up in other place (for the life of me I can't remember), so if anyone has someone they want to show up in one of the chapters, please tell me and I'll try to seek them it.**

**Anyways, please comment, favorite thing, least favorite thing, favorite OC character so far, something like that. Please tell me if any of the characters are OOC. Bye!**


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